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THE HIDDEN AERIAL 


Books by Lewis E. 

Theiss 

In Camp at Fort Brady 

A CAMPING STORY. 

304 Pages. 

His Big Brother 


A STORY OF THE 

STRUGGLES 

AND TRIUMPHS OF 

A LITTLE 

SON OF LIBERTY. 

320 Pages. 

Lumberjack Bob 


A TALE OF THE ALLEGHANIES. 


320 Pages. 

The Wireiess Patrol at Camp 

Brady 


A STORY OF HOW 

THE BOY 

CAMPERS, THROUGH THEIR 
KNOWLEDGE OF WIRELESS, 

“DID THEIR BIT.” 

320 Pages. 

The Secret Wireless 


A STORY OF THE CAMP BRADY 

PATROL. 

320 Pages. 

The Hidden Aerial 


THE SPY LINE ON 

THE MOUN- 

TAIN. 

332 Pages. 

Cloth Sound — Colored Frontispiece 

Vrice, $1.35 net each 






The Hidden Aerial 

The Spy Line on the 
Mountain 


LEWIS E^THEISS 

ILLUSTKATED HY 

FRANK T. MERRILL 



W. A. WILDE COMPANY 
BOSTON CHICAGO 



Copyrighted^ ipip» 

By W. a. Wilde Company 
All rights reserved 

The Hidden Aerial 


APR 27 i920 


©Ci,A566763 

' K ? » 7 ' 


TV 

Charles Lathrop Packy 

who^ as president of 
The National War Garden Commission^ 
did more^ perhaps^ than any other private citizen 
to stimulate food production in America during the war^ 
This Book Is Dedicated 









CONTENTS 

PAOB 

I Soldiers of the Soil .... 7 

II Off to the Farm Plattsburg . . 20 

III The First Day at Penn State . . 30 

IV Breaking in the Recruits ... 46 

V Insubordination 58 

VI A Friend in Need .... 72 

VII A Snake in the Grass ... 84 

VIII A Reprimand 92 

IX Under Suspicion 100 

X Little Pitchers Have Big Ears . iii 

XI A Catastrophe 122 

XII A Dark Outlook 133 

XIII Murder Will Out .... 140 

XIV Another Cloud on the Horizon . 153 

XV The Liberty Camp .... 160 

XVI The Furrows of Freedom . . .173 

XVH What Lem Overheard . . . .187 

XVHI A Startling Discovery . . . 197 

XIX Breaking the Jam . . . .205 


5 


6 CONTENTS 

FAGB 

XX A Wet Weather Picnic . . . 219 

XXI A Silent Battle 230 

XXII A Scout of Two 236 

XXIII A Council of War .... 257 

XXIV The Pinch 265 

XXV A Dangerous Situation . . . 274 

XXVI The Crisis 288 

XXVII A Midnight Vigil .... 300 
XXVIII A Struggle with Temptation . .313 

XXIX Victory 322 


The Hidden Aerial 


CHAPTER I 
SOLDIERS OF THE SOIL 

L ittle Johnnie Lee sat by the window of the 
Central City Y. M. C. A., looking gloomily at 
the great service flag that hung from the flagpole of 
the building and was lazily flapping in the breeze. 
Slowly he counted the stars on the big banner. The 
longer he stared at the flag the gloomier his look 
became. Finally he turned to Jimmy Donnelly, 
who sat beside him reading the sporting page in the 
daily paper. 

AinT it tough luck? said Johnnie. 

“ Eh? said Jimmy, his eyes still fastened on the 
baseball news. What^s tough luck? ” 

Why, to be so young, of course. If only I^d had 
the luck to be born a year or two sooner I could go 
to war.^^ 

Jimmy Donnelly lowered his paper and slowly 
looked his companion over from head to foot. 
“ You little peanut,” he smiled, they wouldnT 
take you in the army, even if you were a million 
years old.” 


7 


8 


THE HIDDEN AERIAL 


I know it,” groaned Johnnie, his face becoming 
more disconsolate than ever, and that’s worse than 
being too young. If I was as big as you, Jimmy, 
I’d run away and enlist and tell ’em I was eighteen 
years old.” 

Johnnie paused and looked forlornly at the serv- 
ice banner once more. “ They’ll never put a star 
on it for me,” he said, almost tearfully, and there 
ain’t a fellow in Central City that’s more eager to 
help than I am. Whenever I try to do anything 
they tell me either that I’m too little or that I’m 
too young. There just ain’t a thing a little fellow 
like me can do. If you don’t call that hard luck, 
what is it? ” 

Mr. Haskins, the Y. M. C. A. secretary, was pass- 
ing as Johnnie . finished speaking. He stopped, 
wheeled, and stepped quickly over to the window 
where the two boys sat. 

You could use a hoe and pull weeds, Johnnie,” 
he said. In fact, you’d be so close to the ground 
you ought to be able to pull weeds better than most 
anybody else.” 

Johnnie looked up at him with a sickly smile. 

Pulling weeds would help a lot,” he said sarcas- 
tically. “ I reckon a good weed puller would be 
almost as useful as one of those French ‘ seventy- 
fives.’ ” 

Mr. Haskins looked fixedly at Johnnie for a mo- 
ment. Johnnie,” he said presently, you told the 


SOLDIERS OF THE SOIL 


9 


truth without meaning to tell it. That sign across 
the street, ‘ Food will win the war,^ means exactly 
what it says. The nations fighting for freedom have 
hardly enough of anything. We are short of guns, 
munitions, flying machines, coal, lumber, steel, and 
a thousand other things. But the worst shortage 
is of food. Men are at work night and day to make 
these other things ; but what good will they be when 
they are made, unless there is also sufficient food? 
Every day food becomes scarcer ; and every day the 
number of men raising food gets smaller. The 
Allies need food raisers just now more than they 
need soldiers or shells or anything else. So just 
because you can't shoulder a musket and go into the 
trenches you mustn't say there is nothing for you 
to do. You can raise food as well as a six-footer. 
And just now that's of more importance than help- 
ing to handle a French ‘ seventy-five.' " 

Johnnie looked unconvinced. If weed pulling 
is so helpful," he argued, why did Captain Hardy 
send for Henry and Roy and Lew and Wilhe to go 
to New York to help find the secret wireless that 
the Germans were using? Why didn't Uncle Sam 
keep them here raising radishes? " 

Johnnie," said Mr. Haskins, Uncle Sam has 
need of men for all sorts of work, and he knows best 
where each one of us can be of the most use. Those 
four members of your Wireless Patrol were sent for 
because of their unusual skill in wireless work. If 


10 


THE HIDDEN AERIAL 


you had been a better wireless operator than Willie 
Brown, who isn't a bit bigger than you are, I have no 
doubt you would have gone in his place. Uncle Sam 
didn’t need you for wireless work, but he does need 
you to help raise food.” 

But I ain’t a farmer,” protested Johnnie. I 
don’t know anything about farming.” 

You know enough to use a hoe and pull weeds, 
Johnnie, and you can easily learn more. Uncle Sam 
is organizing an army of soldiers of the soil, just as he 
is creating an army of fighting men, and he wants 
every boy of your age who isn’t doing something else 
helpful to enlist. Why don’t you join the Boys’ 
Working Reserve, Johnnie, and spend your summer 
on a farm? Thousands of boys in every part 
of the nation are enlisting. So don’t say there 
isn’t anything you can do to help. The question is 
whether or not you are patriotic enough to be will- 
ing to do what you are able to do, whether you like 
to do it or not.” 

The conversation had attracted a number of boys, 
who now clustered about the little group by the 
window. In addition to Johnnie Lee and Jimmy 
Donnelly there were several other members of the 
Camp Brady Wireless Patrol, as well as a number of 
other boys who did not belong to that little organ- 
ization. 

Johnnie made no reply to Mr. Haskins. He was 
thinking of the night, not long since passed, when 


SOLDIERS OF THE SOIL 


11 


the members of the Wireless Patrol had been given 
a banquet by the grateful citizens of Elk City, which 
had been saved from destruction at the hands of 
German dynamiters through the efforts of the Wire- 
less Patrol. Only a part of the Patrol had had a 
hand in the actual capture of the dynamiters, but 
Captain Hardy, the Patrol leader, in thanking the 
citizens of Elk City for their kindness, had said: 

Doubtless the hardest task done by any members 
of the Wireless Patrol was that of remaining at 
Camp Brady and carrying on there the ordinary 
affairs of every-day life. Had a single member of 
the Patrol failed in the task assigned to him, we 
should never have saved Elk City from destruction.” 

Johnnie knew that his captain’s words were true; 
and he also knew that what Mr. Haskins had said 
was true. He understood well enough that the way 
to win the war was for each individual American to 
do with his might what his hands found to do. The 
difficulty was that the task now suggested was so 
commonplace — merely the wielding of a hoe and 
the pulling of weeds — and Johnnie had been doing 
the commonplace for so long that his heart yearned 
for a part in something more spectacular. He had 
been one of the boys who remained at Camp Brady 
while his fellows trailed and captured the dynami- 
ters. And now, while others of his comrades were 
in the great American metropolis on an exciting spy 
hunt, he must remain in the humdrum town of his 


n 


THE HIDDEN AERIAL 


birth and pull weeds, or at best go into the country 
where it was still more humdrum, and do the same 
thing. In the end, Johnnie knew, he would sign up 
as a hoe man; he was too good a patriot not to be 
willing to do the best he could. But for the moment 
he rebelled at the part that Nature, in making him 
small, had laid out for him. So he remained silent. 

Nor was Johnnie the only lad in the group who 
looked with scornful eye on the suggestion to join 
the Boys^ Working Reserve for farm service. The 
plea for recruits had been duly made by the high 
school principal, but as yet no recruits had been 
secured. The main reason for this was the scornful 
opposition of Frank Anderson. This lad, handsome 
in features and with a dashing manner, was the 
recognized leader among the high school boys. He 
was the son of the richest manufacturer in town. The 
possession of plenty of spending money together with 
his aristocratic bearing had given him great influence 
among his fellows. But he was arrogant, conceited, 
and inordinately ambitious. And yet he combined 
with these qualities real ability and cleverness. 

Just as Frank had made fun of the idea on the 
day the high school principal had explained the plan 
for the Boys^ Working Reserve, so now he was out- 
spoken in his hostility to it. 

“ If Uncle Sam needs boys to work on the farms,” 
he demanded defiantly, “ why doesn’t he provide 
proper equipment for them? Who’s going to work 


SOLDIERS OF THE SOIL 


13 


for some tight-fisted old hayseed twelve hours a day, 
and sleep in a hot garret, and eat greasy fried pota- 
toes and salt ham at every meal, for twenty dollars 
a month? Not I, nor any other boy with any sense. 
I can go into my father’s office and earn that much 
in a week, and have a good time besides. This talk 
about being ‘ soldiers of the soil ’ is just bunk to 
catch a lot of suckers.” 

Mr. Haskins was about to reply, when a tall, 
rangy lad who bore his name but was no kin of his, 
stepped forward. The lad’s threadbare clothes were 
in striking contrast to the expensive garments worn 
by the son of the banker. On his face was a look of 
quiet determination that spoke of complete self- 
mastery. 

^‘Not all of us feel that way, Mr. Haskins,” he 
said quietly. The men who go into the army don’t 
go because it is an easy job or because it pays well. 
Lots of men give up big salaries to take places in 
the ranch at thirty dollars a month. If they are 
willing to do that, and to risk their lives as well, the 
least we boys can do is to back them up in whatever 
way we can help the best. Uncle Sam needs us on 
the farms more than he needs us anywhere else or 
he wouldn’t have asked us to work there. We ought 
to be thinking of how we can help the nation best 
and not how we can get the most fun or the most 
money.” 

Lem Haskins spoke quietly but with a ring of 


14 


THE HIDDEN AERIAL 


determination iii his voice that found an echo in the 
hearts of most of his hearers. As he talked, he 
looked squarely at Frank Anderson, who reddened 
slightly and moved uneasily, while his face took on 
an angry look. It was a new experience for him to 
be reproved in this fashion. But Lem gave him no 
chance to reply. 

“I had a letter from Captain Hardy this morn- 
ing, he continued. He has heard that there are 
no recruits in Central City for the Boys’ Working 
Reserve, and he wants the members of the Wireless 
Patrol and as many others as will go with us to 
enlist for farm work. I’ve got an offer of a job at 
twelve dollars a week and I need the money; but 
I’m going to work on a farm. How many of you 
wiU join me? ” And he looked appealingly around 
the group. 

There was a pause. Then Mr. Haskins spoke. 

Lem,” he said with approval, you are doing a real 
patriotic service, and every boy in the room is going 
to join you. There isn’t a boy here who can afford 
not to.” 

He paused and glanced about the group. Plainly 
there was a division of sentiment. The boys of the 
Wireless Patrol were evidently with Lem. Their 
attitude was settled the instant they learned that 
Captain Hardy wished them to enlist for farming. 
But some of the others seemed to hesitate. The fol- 
lowers of Frank Anderson were waiting to see what 


SOLDIERS OF THE SOIL 


15 


their leader would say. Frank’s face wore a scorn- 
ful smile, but before he could say anything, Mr. 
Haskins spoke again. 

Of course,” he explained, no one is going to try 
to compel any of you to do farm work. The matter 
is one for each of you to settle for himself. But I 
think you will all join, for I know you boys pretty 
well, and I do not believe there is a boy in the group 
that is yellow. It takes a good red-blooded boy to 
do what Lem is doing. How many of you are going 
to join him? ” 

“ I am,” said Jimmy Donnelly. 

^^Me, too,” cried Alec Cunningham and Robert 
Martin in a breath, while George Larkin called out. 

You can’t lose me. I’m in on it.” All three were 
members of the Wireless Patrol. 

For a moment there was a pause. Every member 
of the Wireless Patrol had volunteered except John- 
nie Lee. Mr. Haskins turned to him and said, 

Here’s the chance you wanted, Johnnie.” 

“No it ain’t,” said Johnnie, “but I’m going to 
take it anyway. If pulling weeds is all I can do 
I’ll pull weeds till my back breaks. I may be little, 
but I’m not yellow.” 

“ Nor here either,” cried George Fletcher. “ Count 
me in.” 

George was a big boy and stood high in his classes 
and was so well liked that a half dozen other boys 
followed him at once. Only the Anderson crowd 


16 


THE HIDDEN AERIAL 


held back. But soon their ranks were broken, for 
Roger Branscome stepped forward and joined the 
volunteers. He was quickly followed by Clarence 
Westervelt. Both were sons of wealthy and aris- 
tocratic parents, and Clarence was hardly second to 
Frank Anderson in influence among his fellows. 

The latter, seeing how things were going, and sens- 
ing the unfortunate position he would occupy if he 
did not change his attitude, suddenly called out: 

I’ve been thinking it over, Mr. Haskins, and you 
are right. You may count me in, too.” But there 
was no ring of sincerity in his voice. 

Every boy in the group had now expressed his 
willingness to serve as a soldier of the soil. Mr. 
Haskins smiled with pleasure at the change in heart. 

‘‘ Boys,” he said with a smile, I want to tell you 
that you have shown the proper spirit. Perhaps 
some of you still feel as Johnnie did — that helping 
to raise food is a poor way to assist your country. 
But you are wrong. Lieutenant-Governor McClain 
has just issued an appeal to the boys of the state to 
enlist for this service, and here is what he says.” 

From his pocket he pulled the morning newspaper, 
ran his eye hastily over the pages, and finally began 
to read : I know that you boys are patriotic. I 
know that you want to give your country more than 
‘ lip service ’ in this emergency. Some of you, no 
doubt, have brothers in the service, and I feel sure 
that you want to put food into the stomach, strength 


SOLDIERS OF THE SOIL 


17 


into the arm, and more hope and courage into the 
heart of that brother ‘ over there ’ and the fellow 
that^s fighting beside him, if a little sacrifice of pleas- 
ure during the summer months, and a little leg-tire, 
and a little backache on your part will bring it about. 
And there’s one place you can help better than any 
other place in the world, outside of carrying a gun, 
yes, just as well as if you were carrying a gun, and 
that on a farm. All authorities agree that ^ food 
will win the war,’ and it necessarily follows that the 
fellow who trudges the furrows is equally a patriot 
with the fellow who answers the drum beat.” 

Mr. Haskins paused as he put the paper back in 
his pocket. ‘‘That,” he continued, “is what the 
Lieutenant-Governor of this great state of Pennsyl- 
vania thinks about service on the farm. I congratu- 
late you boys, for every one of you has declared 
himself ready to do the thing your country needs, 
regardless of the sacrifices entailed.” 

But the volunteer farmers soon found it was one 
thing to enlist and another thing to get into the army 
of the soil. The local leaders of the Boys’ Working 
Reserve were communicated with, enlistment papers 
were secured, and the boys prepared to “ sign up.” 
Then it was found that enlistment was limited 
strictly to boys of desirable character. Shirkers were 
not wanted. Now the high school principal became 
the arbiter of destiny. Five of the boys who had 
volunteered were rejected because of their poor rec- 


18 


THE HIDDEN AERIAL 


ords at school. Not one of the Camp Brady boys 
was among the five. Two of Frank Anderson’s fol- 
lowers were among those rejected. But Roger 
Branscome and Clarence Westervelt and Frank him- 
self were given a good rating by their teacher. 

The fact that only boys of worth would be accepted 
as members of the farm army made membership in 
that body seem suddenly much more desirable; and 
a number of boys who had previously stood aloof 
from the movement now wanted to join. But the 
party was complete and no more volunteers were 
needed from the Central City district. 

As the group was finally made up, it consisted of 
the seven members of the Wireless Patrol and an 
equal number of boys who did not belong to that 
organization. Lem Haskins was, of course, the 
leader of the Patrol Group, for he was second lieu- 
tenant in that organization, and the only officer now 
in Central City. Frank Anderson at once became 
the leader of the other seven boys. Thus the party 
immediately split into two distinctive groups, and if 
there was not actual hostility between the two par- 
ties, there was at least an open feeling of coldness 
between them. This feeling Frank Anderson appar- 
ently encouraged, though for what purpose was not 
at once apparent. But that he had some scheme in 
mind nobody doubted. He had been put in an un- 
enviable light and really beaten; and a boy as poor 
and obscure as Lem Haskins had brought him this 


SOLDIERS OF THE SOIL 


19 


first fall in his ambitious young life. No one who 
knew him believed that he would either forget or 
forgive; but what he would do to even up his score 
with Lem nobody knew. 

But for a time no one gave the matter much 
thought, for the farm volunteers were to go to the 
State College of Agriculture for a course in the rudi- 
ments of farming, before beginning their actual 
labors, and every boy was busy getting ready for this 
trip, which promised greatly to enliven what all had 
regarded as at best an uninteresting enterprise. 


CHAPTER II 

OFF TO THE FARM PLATTSBURG 

B usy, indeed, were the days that followed. 

Seventy-two hours from the time of their 
enlistment, the volunteers were to reach the training 
camp at the Pennsylvania State College. Meantime 
they had to get their equipments together and say 
good-bye to their friends, for none of them expected 
to return to Central City until the summer was past ; 
and one or two of them had to persuade reluctant 
parents to allow them to undertake the work. But 
soon all difficulties were overcome and the lads, now 
duly enrolled as members of the United States Boys' 
Working Reserve, were as busy as bees preparing 
for their departure. 

The burning question among them was, ‘‘What 
shall we take with us? " Instructions from the 
Working Reserve officers said that each boy should 
bring to the training camp everything that he ex- 
pected to take with him to the farm on which he 
would work. It was suggested that at least the fol- 
lowing articles would be necessary: Two working 
20 


OFF TO THE FARM PLATTSBURG 21 


shirts; a hat; one pair of heavy working shoes; three 
pairs of socks; two suits of underwear; one pair 
of pajamas; two face towels; one bath towel; 
two heavy blankets suitable for camp use ; 
one sweater ; and necessary toilet articles, such 
as soap, comb, and tooth-brush and paste. It was 
also suggested that musical instruments and base- 
ball outfits be taken. But to lads who had never 
lived in the country and who had little idea of what 
was really needed there, such an outfit seemed pain- 
fully inadequate. Each boy wanted to take a hun- 
dred different things not mentioned. 

The hat and the working shirt were to form part 
of the uniform ; for all the lads at the training camp 
were to be supplied with uniforms belonging to the 
state. These uniforms consisted, of course, of hats, 
coats, trousers, and leggings; but inasmuch as coats 
would not be worn during work, the shirts would also 
form part of the uniform. These, it was announced, 
could be bought at State College at cost, as could 
also the hats. 

The Y. M. C. A. continued to be the meeting- 
place for the embryo farmers ; and the corner by the 
window, where Johnnie had sat lamenting his fate, 
was usually filled with a noisy throng discussing the 
coming camp. 

It soon became evident to the volunteers what 
part Frank Anderson intended to play in the adven- 
ture before them. 


22 


THE HIDDEN AERIAL 


“ My tailor is rushing work on a uniform of offi- 
cers’ cloth for me,” he said in one of these discus- 
sions. ‘‘None of your common soldier khaki for 
mine. And I hope you fellows don’t intend to take 
old shirts. You can get new ones there for next to 
nothing that match the uniforms. I don’t want my 
company to look like a crowd of ragamuffins.” 

Lem was one of the Reserve boys present when 
Frank said this. He paled a trifle and a look of 
distress passed swiftly over his face. For half an 
hour he had been seated in the corner in a brown 
study * and the very matter he had been turning over 
in his mind was this question of uniform shirts. 
Lem had no money with which to buy anything, no 
matter how cheap it might be. Like any other lad 
of his years, Lem wanted to be as fittingly dressed 
as his fellows. But he could see no way to obtain 
the coveted garments. He had no money in hand; 
there was no time for him to earn the money, and 
he did not want to borrow the sum necessary. The 
only way he could see out of his difficulty was to 
take with him some old brown shirts he had had for 
years. They were patched and plainly showed their 
age; but they almost matched in color the material 
used in the soldiers’ uniforms. 

Big-hearted Jimmy Donnelly chanced to be look- 
ing at Lem as Frank Anderson was speaking. He 
noted the expression of Lem’s face and rightly 
guessed the cause of it. 


OFF TO THE FARM PLATTSBURG 23 


Lem,” he said, Fve been thinking about this 
very thing — whether to buy new shirts or take old 
ones. I’ve got some that would answer.” 

I was thinking about shirts, too,” said Lem, 
slowly. But I wasn’t debating whether I should 
take old ones or buy new. I haven’t any money to 
get new ones, Jimmy. If only I could have worked 
for a couple of weeks at that job, I’d have had plenty 
of money.” 

For the first time Jimmy realized what it meant to 
Lem to give up this job and go out on a farm for 
twenty dollars a month. All the other boys in the 
Wireless Patrol had at least comfortable homes, and 
several of them were sons of well-to-do parents. 
Lem not only had no father, but even had to help 
support his mother. The two had very little to live 
on. A wave of loyalty and sympathy for Lem passed 
through Jimmy’s big heart. But Jimmy was too 
much of a diplomat to hurt Lem still further by 
expressing his sympathy directly. Instead he said, 

I don’t see why we should have to buy new shirts 
just to please Frank Anderson. I’ve got some old 
brown flannel shirts at home that would do, and if 
you are not going to buy new ones, neither will I. 
We’ll wear our old ones, Lem, and save the money.” 

Nor did Jimmy let the matter end here. He 
talked to the other members of the Wireless Patrol 
and told them about Lem; and every one of them 
loyally declared that he, too, would wear old shirts. 


24 


THE HIDDEN AERIAL 


It was less easy to decide what other articles 
should be taken. But one by one, each boy put 
down the number of articles he deemed necessary 
until each could pack his baggage, barring his blan- 
kets, within the limits of a bulging suit case. His 
blankets each boy was to carry in a roll about his 
shoulders. 

Finally came the day and hour of departure, and 
the little company marched to the station, each 
with his blanket roll about his shoulder and his suit 
case in his hand. Again the division in the ranks 
became perfectly evident ; for the Camp Brady boys, 
accustomed to drill, instinctively fell in together and 
marched smartly in old-time formation, while the 
others formed a second group that straggled along 
in no particular order. A large company of friends 
and relatives was at the station to bid good-bye to the 
young patriots. Farewells were said, and the youth- 
ful volunteers swung aboard the train. 

As Lem quietly marshalled his followers, he could 
not help thinking of that morning, years before, 
when he had left Central City with those same com- 
rades for his first visit to Camp Brady. As he 
thought of all that had happened in the meantime 
and what it had meant to him — of how he was now 
actually leader of these same lads who on that occa- 
sion had hardly tolerated his presence — a great 
lump came into his throat. Quietly he mounted the 
steps of the train behind his comrades and silently 


OFF TO THE FARM PLATTSBURG 25 


slipped into a seat beside Jimmy Donnelly. Just 
now his heart was full of gratitude to Jimmy. 

Last of all, Frank Anderson boarded the train. 
In his new uniform and with his patrician features 
and proud bearing, he at once attracted general at- 
tention. Seeing that all eyes were on him, he walked 
through the aisle with the bearing of a commander, 
scrutinizing his companions critically. 

“ Put your suit case in the rack overhead,’’ he said 
sternly to little Johnnie Lee. Then he sought an 
unoccupied seat where he would be conspicuous and 
sat down by himself. He had no baggage to bother 
with. One of his father’s servants had brought his 
luggage to the train and put it aboard the baggage- 
car. 

For two hours the train sped through a region of 
mountains and valleys and swift rushing streams. 
Then it stopped at Lemont and the boys crowded 
into the waiting motor-cars that were to take them 
the three miles to the State College. A few minutes 
later their cars swung into a beautiful grove of trees, 
sped along a winding roadway that ran through the 
college campus, and drew up before Old Main,” a 
towering building of gray limestone, surmounted by 
a lofty cupola. Here they were to register. 

Not knowing exactly what to do, the company 
hesitated before entering the building. At once 
Frank Anderson stepped toward the open door. 

This way, fellows,” he said, and led the way into 
the building. 


26 


THE HIDDEN AERIAL 


To the attendants who met them in the hall An- 
derson said, with great assurance, “ I want to register 
this company of Reserves. We are from Central 
City.’^ 

Are you in charge of them? ” asked the attend- 
ant, noticing that Frank was in uniform. 

“ Not exactly — not yet,’’ said Frank, slightly 
taken aback. But I belong to the company.” 

Jimmy Donnelly overheard the remark. ‘‘What 
do you think of that? ” he said to Johnnie Lee. 
“ He ain^t in charge of us — yet. You bet he ain^t. 
And he ain^t a going to be, either.” 

In another minute the boys were lined up before 
a clerk, where each was duly registered for training 
at the “ Farm Plattsburg.” 

Like Mount Zion, this farm Plattsburg was beau- 
tiful for situation. A thousand acres of farming 
land constituted the training ground where these 
youthful soldiers of the soil were to be whipped into 
shape to render effective help to the country's food 
producers. The campus proper consisted of acres 
and acres of beautiful wooded lawns, with excellent 
gravel roadways winding here and there, and dozens 
of buildings, great and small, located in little groups. 
Experimental gardens and orchards and nurseries 
fringed the campus. Surrounding this inner region 
was a broad belt of college farming land, dotted with 
groups of farm buildings and consisting of rolling 
fields and snug patches of woodland. Mountains 


OFF TO THE FARM PLATTSBURG 


27 


hemmed the valley in on either side, and directly 
opposite one edge of the broad college lands Tussey 
Mountain came to an abrupt end, its treeless nose, 
smooth as a sheep’s back, sloping green and beautiful 
down to the plain. 

The training camp was located on a vast, open 
lawn or drill ground that faced this mountain. Here, 
with the wooded campus behind it and before it open 
fields stretching all the way to Old Tussey, stood the 
tents that for the next fortnight were to be home to 
the lads from Central City. There were tents for 
more than three hundred boys. Row upon row, in 
stiff military alignment and with wide company 
streets between the rows, the tents formed a little 
city by themselves. There was a company street for 
each of the ten companies that were to form the regi- 
ment — and at the head of each company street 
stood an officer’s tent. Each of the tents for privates 
was large enough for two occupants. The tents for 
officers were somewhat larger. While at the other 
end of the company streets stood tents larger still 
that could be used for mess tents and purposes of 
assemblage. One of these tents was occupied by 
the camp Y. M. C. A. The camp flagpole stood in 
the centre of the row of officers’ tents, where were 
grouped four tents for the high command. Close 
beside these tents, which formed the camp head- 
quarters, stood a huge sign, which read: 


28 


THE HIDDEN AERIAL 


Department of Labor 
U. S. Boys’ Working Reserve 
Penna. Division 

PENN STATE 
FARM 

TRAINING CAMP 

Committee of Public Safety 
for 

Commonwealth of Pennsylvania 

As the boys came from the Registrar’s office and 
marched through the beautiful campus, they could 
see through the trees the white tents shining in the 
sunlight. At the sight a thrill ran through the heart 
of little Johnnie. The work that lay before him he 
suddenly beheld in a new light. It was true that 
the gleaming tents and the bugle calls and uniforms 
did not alter by one whit the service he had prom- 
ised to render to his country; but they did enable 
Johnnie to see it from a new point of view. Now he 
understood that the term “ soldier of the soil ” really 
meant something, and that they who produce the 
materials of war serve as truly as those who use 
them. And suddenly he became as eager to be a 
wielder of the hoe as originally he had been reluctant. 

Nor was this sudden spirit of devotion peculiar to 
Johnnie. Other hearts besides his thrilled with the 
thought of service to country — every heart, per- 
haps, with the exception of Frank Anderson’s. He 


OFF TO THE FARM PLATTSBURG 29 


was thinking, not how he might best serve the na- 
tion, but how he would most surely promote him- 
self. The idea of service had had no part in making 
him a member of the boys’ land army. A sense of 
shame had compelled him to volunteer; but having 
enlisted, he meant to turn events to his own use. 
And with Frank Anderson that meant making him- 
self the leader. His care had ever been less about 
what he attempted than concerning his own prom- 
inence in the movement. To rule or ruin had been 
his disposition from childhood. So now, as the little 
squad marched through the beautiful grove, he was 
bending his thoughts solely upon the problem of his 
own advancement, while most of his fellows were 
thinking as resolutely upon how they could best 
serve the great cause for which their country was at 
war. 


CHAPTER III 


THE FIRST DAY AT PENN STATE 

TT was not to the distant tents, gleaming white 
^ through the trees, however, that the little band of 
volunteers took its way, but to the wide-spreading 
armory, beautiful now in its mantle of verdant vines. 
Swiftly they marched through the great, arched door- 
way, and in another moment found themselves on 
the edge of the huge drill floor. The hum of many 
voices that came to them through the doorway 
swelled into a very torrent of sound as they entered 
the building. Surprised, almost dumbfounded, the 
recruits from Central City paused to survey the scene 
before them. 

At Old Main and on the march to the armory 
they had seen groups of boys like themselves, who 
had evidently come to attend the agricultural train- 
ing camp that was to open on the morrow. But 
they were utterly unprepared for the sight that now 
met their eyes. Dozens, scores, even hundreds of 
boys were packed within the great building. Some 
stood in little groups, talking quietly among them- 
selves. Some were rushing about looking for missing 
30 


THE FmST DAY AT PENN STATE 31 


comrades and lustily calling their names. Other 
boys were joking among themselves and shouting 
across the floor at one another. The great building 
rang and echoed with laughter and the babel of 
voices. Everywhere there was bustle and activity. 
From the academic quiet of the campus the lads 
from Central City seemed suddenly to have stepped 
into a very volcano of sound. 

But they were not allowed much time for observa- 
tion. A guide standing just within the door, seeing 
them pause, stepped over to them and said 
brusquely, “ Go over there and get your uniforms,’’ 
and he pointed to a great counter piled high with 
khaki clothing. 

This way,” said Frank Anderson, the instant the 
guide stopped speaking; and he led the way to the 
counter, shouldering his way through the crowd so 
roughly that more than one jostled lad turned to 
scowl at him. 

Uniforms for this bunch,” he said arrogantly, as 
he came up to the man in charge of the uniforms. 

George Fletcher was immediately behind Frank. 
The man at the counter swiftly ran his eye over the 
lad, then pulled a uniform from the pile and handed 
it to him. George started to try on the coat, but 
the man waved him on. 

Hustle along and do that later,” he said. ^‘Next.” 

The boys immediately behind George pushed 
forward in a group. 


32 


THE HIDDEN AERIAL 


“ Give me a thirty-six/^ said Roger Branscome, 
seeing what had happened to George. I donT 
want some old thing that won’t fit.” 

Give me a thirty-four/’ cried Clarence Wester- 
velt. 

A thirty-six for mine/’ said another voice. 

As the group pressed close around the man who 
was distributing the suits, he said with irritation, 
Stand back, can’t you? How do you think I’m 
going to fit you if you crowd so I can’t see you? ” 
Close behind the boys who were pressing the 
uniform man stood Lem. At this protest he stepped 
back swiftly and turned to his fellows of the Wire- 
less Patrol. 

“ Form in single file,” he said quietly, and give 
the man plenty of room.” 

The others continued to swarm about the man at 
the uniform counter, but Lem’s little band marched 
up in perfect order and silently took the uniforms 
that were handed to them. Then Lem led them to 
one side, where they could not block the road of 
those who were behind them. 

A slender, black-haired man in uniform stood near- 
by, apparently appraising the arriving volunteers. 
He smiled his approval as Lem so quietly created 
order in the line, and turned to scrutinize him closely 
as Lem walked away. Johnnie Lee was the only one 
in the group who noticed the officer, and Johnnie was 
so unfamiliar with uniforms that, though he realized 


THE FIRST DAY AT PENN STATE 33 


the man was an oflBicer, he had no idea what his rank 
might be. 

Making their way to an open space beside the wall, 
the boys began to try on the coats of the uniforms 
that had been given them. George Fletcher had 
drawn a coat three sizes too big for him. It fitted 
like a meal sack. Clarence Westervelt’s coat, on the 
contrary, was too tight for him. Lem’s coat looked 
as though it had been made for his younger brother. 
Like Ichabod Crane, his hands dangled a mile out of 
his sleeves, and the tail of his coat came up nearly to 
his waist. Lem had to struggle hard to get into the 
garment, and a roar of laughter went up when at last 
he succeeded. He could not even button the coat. 
Lem joined in the laugh on himself. But his 
difficulties were as nothing compared to those of 
little Johnnie Lee. The uniforms in question had 
been the property of the Pennsylvania National 
Guard before that organization was federalized, and 
the coats were made for men. Even the smallest coat 
available would have been too large for Johnnie and 
he had drawn one of good size. The sleeves com- 
pletely hid his hands, the coat tail reached nearly to 
his knees, and the garment itself was big enough 
to wrap around him twice. Little Johnnie looked 
at himself ruefully while his fellows roared with 
laughter. 

“ That fellow didn’t look blind,” said Alec Cun- 
ningham, ''but he was. I don’t see why they 


34 


THE HIDDEN AERIAL 


employ him. They might just as well put the suits 
in a grab-bag. We’d all be fitted just as well.” 

Indeed if the experience of Lem and Johnnie was 
a fair criterion, they would have been fitted better; 
for the appearance of both boys was greatly improved 
by the exchange of garments. 

For a few minutes the dignified old armory 
resembled a second-hand clothes shop on Baxter 
Street. On every part of the big floor, boys were 
trading coats, with no end of laughter and fun 
resulting from the exchange. And nothing could 
have been planned that would better have served 
the purpose of making the boys from different 
sections acquainted with one another; for when a 
recruit could not get a coat to fit by exchanging with 
one of his immediate friends, he went through the 
throng seeking to make a trade with a stranger. So 
everybody was shouting or talking at once, and the 
building resounded with merry laughter. Everybody 
appeared happy and good-natured. 

Yet there was one exception, one boy out of 
harmony with the spirit of good-will and friendly 
banter, and that boy was Frank Anderson. With 
ill-concealed contempt he watched the exchange of 
garments. And when he noticed, during this trading, 
that Lem and his fellows were not buying the smart 
new shirts that were on sale at a table near the 
uniform counter, he gave up all attempt at conceal- 
ment of his feelings. 


THE FIRST DAY AT PENN STATE S5 


“ For heaven’s sake/’ he exclaimed scornfully, I 
hope you fellows aren’t going to disgrace Central City 
by wearing those old clothes. Why, every other boy 
in the regiment has got a new shirt.” 

And what he said was pretty nearly true. 

“ It ain’t the shirt that counts,” said Jimmy 
Donnelly. It’s what the fellow does that’s inside 
the shirt. And anyway, I reckon they wore worse 
things than these shirts at Valley Forge.” 

Frank’s reply was an expression of open contempt. 
Jimmy Donnelly laughed. He did not like Frank. 
And presently he looked sharply at him and said 
pointedly, “ Fine feathers don’t always make fine 
birds, you know.” 

Frank Anderson’s face darkened at this shot, but 
before he could think of any retort, an order was 
shouted through a megaphone for the boys to line up 
in military formation. Each company was to be 
made up, so far as possible, of boys from a common 
locality. Thus the boys from Central City were to 
remain together. They had been assigned to Com- 
pany B. 

All those assigned to Company A step this away,” 
shouted a voice through the megaphone. 

At once there was a great stir as the boys appoint- 
ed to that company pushed their way to the front of 
the building. 

Again the megaphone roared forth an order. 
“ Company B will form in line immediately behind 
Company A. This way. Company B.” 


S6 


THE HIDDEN AERIAL 


At once the boys from Central City began to push 
through the crowd, and once more Frank Anderson 
shoved his way to the front. Boys from other parts 
of the room also moved forward, until the entire 
company of more than thirty boys were massed in a 
group behind A Company, which was already drawn 
up in line. With friendly interest the lads from 
Central City looked at the other members of their 
company. The fourteen Central City boys appar- 
ently formed the largest group among the boys who 
were to compose Company B. But taken together 
the other members of the company would outnumber 
them considerably. Robert Martin caught sight of 
a boy with whom he had traded coats and called a 
greeting to him. Some friendly remarks were ex- 
changed, but the making of acquaintanceships had 
to wait for a later time. 

An officer in the uniform of a captain strode up to 
the group. Fall in behind Company A,” he said, 
and began to draw up the boys in a straight line, 
arranging them according to height. Thus Lem's 
little group was split up and its members placed here 
and there in the line according to size. 

While Company B was forming, the call rang out 
for Company C. And when that unit was organ- 
ized, Company D was called. Rapidly Companies 
E, F, G, H, I, and J were formed. 

At last the regiment stood aligned on the floor. 
The ten companies, each of more than thirty men, 


THE FIRST DAY AT PENN STATE 37 


now formed into two battalions of five companies 
each, and presented an imposing array. No mean 
assemblage was this unit of the boys’ land army. 
And every boy present realized that if the boys in 
all parts of the nation were thus assembling, the 
result would be the mobilization of a tremendous 
force. Hoe wielding now appeared very far from 
contemptible. The Colonel, the two Majors in 
charge of the two battalions, the ten Captains head- 
ing the ten companies, and the Lieutenants assisting 
them were stationed permanently at the training 
camp. 

When the young soldier-farmers were at last drawn 
up in order, the Colonel and his Adjutant passed 
slowly down the ranks to inspect the new troops, 
and Johnnie Lee noted with surprise that the 
Colonel was the man who had been watching them 
at the uniform counter. As the Colonel reached 
Company B, the Captain stepped forward and 
saluted. 

After the Colonel had answered the salute, the 
Captain said, “ Colonel Dennis, I am without a 
lieutenant, that officer having just been summoned 
to Plattsburg.” 

Possibly there is a boy in your company who is 
qualified to serve in that position,” suggested the 
Colonel. 

Here was the opportunity Frank Anderson had 
been waiting for. Swiftly he stepped forward and 


38 


THE HIDDEN AERIAL 


saluted as he had seen his captain do. Drawing 
himself up very erectly, he said, Perhaps I can be 
of use in that capacity.’’ 

He held himself very straight. He was well set 
up, with an appearance of strength and virility. 
In his trim, new uniform he looked every inch an 
oflBcer. Almost any one would have been favorably 
impressed by the lad’s appearance. Even his cold 
face seemed to fit in well with the idea of military 
sternness. Colonel Dennis looked at him with 
interest. He liked the boy’s bearing. 

“ Have you had any military training? ” he asked. 

Frank hesitated. N — not exactly,” he replied. 

The Colonel frowned disapprovingly. He did not 
like that sort of a reply. ‘^Has any one in this 
company had any military training? ” he demanded, 
turning away from Frank. “ If so, let him advance 
one pace.” 

From their places at different points in the line 
the Camp Brady boys stepped out almost as one. 
The Colonel glanced from face to face and his eye 
rested on Lem. He recognized him at once as the 
boy he had seen at the uniform counter. 

What is your name? ” he asked. 

Lem Haskins, sir.” 

Where do you come from? ” 

“ Central City, sir.” 

“ Where did you receive your military training? ” 

“As a member of the Camp Brady Wireless 


THE FIRST DAY AT PENN STATE 39 


Patrol/’ said Lem. were drilled by Captain 

James Hardy, now of the United States Army.” 

“ You don’t mean that you belonged to that little 
band of boys who recently saved Elk City from 
destruction by dynamiters, do you? ” 

Yes, sir, we all do,” said Lem, motioning towards 
his fellows of the Wireless Patrol. 

There was a great stir in the ranks as the identity 
of the seven Central City boys became known. 
Every pair of eyes in the company was focussed on 
the lads, and the boys in other companies turned 
their heads and stretched themselves to get a look at 
them. 

“ So you had a hand in capturing those dynamiters, 
eh?” said the Colonel, eyeing Lem with evident 
admiration. 

No, sir,” said Lem. I had no part in capturing 
them. I was one of the boys left behind to tend 
camp.” 

So they left you behind,” said the Colonel. I 
should think they would have needed a big boy like 
you when a fight with such desperate fellows as 
those German spies was in prospect.” 

Lem was silent. The Colonel looked Lem over 
narrowly. Evidently he was unfavorably impressed 
by his part in the Elk City affair. While the Colonel 
was hesitating, little Johnnie Lee broke the silence. 

‘^Lem was in charge of the camp,” he said 
impulsively. He’s a lieutenant of the Patrol.” 


40 


THE HIDDEN AERIAL 


The Colonel frowned, then laughed. “ You must 
learn to salute before addressing an officer,” he said. 

“ That^s all right,” said little Johnnie. “ I didn^t 
mean anything. But you musn’t get a wrong idea 
about Lem. He was needed at camp. Captain 
Hardy couldn’t be there and somebody had to take 
charge and be responsible for things.” 

This time the Colonel laughed outright. ''You 
are a very loyal friend, at any rate,” he said. " You 
can learn military drill by practice, but loyalty to 
friends is something that doesn’t come through 
training. Now tell me one thing more. Why did 
any of you remain behind when a spy hunt was on 
foot? ” 

" Don’t you know? ” said little Johnnie, with such 
honest surprise that everybody within hearing 
laughed. "We were doing the wireless work for 
the district commander of the National Guard. 
Somebody had to be in camp all the time.” 

The Colonel turned again to Lem. " So you are 
a wireless operator,” he said, " and a lieutenant as 
well,” and now he spoke with approval in his voice. 

"Every boy in the Patrol is a wireless operator, 
sir,” said Lem. 

Again there was a craning of necks in the ranks. 

" I begin to understand why you were left in 
camp,” said the Colonel. " I think you are the very 
boy for this place. I congratulate you.” 

He saluted Lem, who turned red with embarrass- 


THE FIRST DAY AT PENN STATE 41 


ment and cast his eyes on the floor, after saluting in 
return. Then, turning to the Captain, Colonel 
Dennis said, I congratulate you, too. You seem 
to have a lieutenant ready-made and an extremely 
talented company.’^ Then he passed on down the 
regiment. 

At his Captain’s command, Lem took the lieu- 
tenant’s position. Frank Anderson slipped back 
into the ranks, his face red with mortification, his 
heart black with anger. Twice now he had been 
thwarted by Lem Haskins, a mere nobody, an obscure 
son of a widow, a ragamuffin with a patched shirt. 
Fierce hatred sprang up in Frank’s heart, and his 
active mind at once turned to thoughts of vengeance. 

When the Colonel’s inspection was completed, the 
regiment passed from the armory, marched swiftly 
through the wooded campus and across the wide 
drill ground to the little city of tents. Each of the 
tents for privates held two occupants. Tent mates 
were chosen and tents assigned. As a lieutenant, 
Lem would occupy an officer’s tent at the head of 
his company street. Thus he was separated from his 
fellows. 

Soon afterward instructions were issued regarding 
the manner of caring for the tents. The sides of the 
tents were to be rolled up in fair weather so that 
air and sunshine could penetrate within each tent. 
Blankets were to be folded and hung outside in the 
sun. On the wooden floor within each tent stood 


42 


THE HIDDEN AERIAL 


two army cots. These were to be kept in precisely 
the positions in which the boys found them, exactly 
so far from the front and the side walls of the tent. 
So narrow was the space separating the cots, for 
the tents were small, that it was necessary to keep 
everything in exact order. Each suit case was to be 
placed under the foot of a cot, with extra shoes 
against it, the toes turned out and protruding 
slightly from under the end of the cot. Other 
luggage was to be stowed snugly under the cots, 
while extra clothing was to be hung on a rope under 
the ridge of the tent. 

The boys were told that an inspection would be 
made daily of each tent, and that each day the 
company that kept its tents and company street in 
best order would be rewarded by having an American 
flag float over the captain’s tent at the head of the 
winning street. The company making the best 
record for orderliness for the entire training period 
would be awarded a blue ribbon at the close of the 
camp. 

The day was well advanced by the time the boys 
had been assigned to their tents and had their duffel 
stowed away in regulation fashion. As they swarmed 
into the company streets after putting their tents 
in order, a bugle call floated through the air — a 
call that was to be very welcome in the days to come, 
for it was the call to mess. Awkwardly the regiment 
formed in line on the drill ground and marched to 
McAllister Hall, where meals were to be served. 


THE FIRST DAY AT PENN STATE 43 


After supper the boys wandered in groups through 
the beautiful grove during the early twilight, scan- 
ning their surroundings and becoming acquainted 
with the region that for the next fortnight was to be 
their home. Then, as the day grew dim, and the 
robins were piping their vesper songs in the trees, 
the regiment assembled again, this time in Old Main. 
Here they were welcomed to Penn State by President 
Sparks. For half an hour he talked to them of the 
war and what it meant, not only to the nation, but 
to humanity as well. 

Never before,’’ said he, ‘‘has it been possible 
for boys of your age to take such a vital part in so 
momentous a struggle as you boys are privileged to 
take. In all previous wars, boys, like women, could 
only stay at home and wait, while the men did the 
fighting. If it is true, as Milton says, that ‘ they also 
serve who only stand and wait,’ how much more truly 
do they serve who labor while they wait. And you 
boys, by your labor, are to produce the fundamental 
munition, food, upon which victory is based. Without 
the necessary food victory is impossible; and in the 
present state of the country there are not enough 
farmers to produce sufficient food to insure victory. 
The addition the boys of America will make to the 
food supply by their labor, I believe, will be great 
enough to tip the scales on our side. When the true 
history of this fight for freedom and justice is written, 
the part played by the loyal-hearted members of the 


44 


THE HIDDEN AERIAL 


Boys’ Working Reserve will be seen in its true light. 
The service that may seen slight to you is in reality as 
important and essential as the duty done by the men 
in the trenches, 

'' I congratulate you, every one of you, upon your 
devotion to your country. My sincerest wish is 
that, like your brothers in khaki in the trenches of 
Europe, you also will ‘ carry on ’ here in the furrows 
of freedom.” 

Once before little Johnnie had heard that phrase. 

They also serve who only stand and wait.” It was 
what their captain had told those who kept the camp 
after the taking of the dynamiters at Elk City. 
Now Johnnie began to see that it was true — that 
every member of an organization, whether it is a 
company of soldiers or a nation, has his particular 
part to play if success is to be gained, even though 
that part consists of nothing more than standing in 
wait for orders. Now, indeed, Johnnie saw that he 
had been in error when he told Mr. Haskins that 
there was nothing he could do. He knew better now. 
He had found his job, ‘^his bit.” Pulling weeds 
might be commonplace, but it no longer seemed 
unimportant. 

I guess a fellow ain’t a slacker merely because 
he doesn’t carry a gun,” whispered Johnnie to 
Charley Russell. I guess a fellow’s a slacker only 
when he refuses to do the thing by which he can 
help best — as I tried to do.” 


THE FIRST DAY AT PENN STATE 45 


A sudden command brought Johnnie^s observations 
to an end. The boys arose, gave a cheer for President 
Sparks, and marched from the building. Swiftly 
they crossed the drill ground to their camp. Then 
a bugle blew taps, and a few minutes later every lad 
in the regiment was stretched on his cot under his 
canvas roof — now in very truth a soldier of the soil. 


CHAPTER IV 

BREAKING IN THE RECRUITS 

C LEAR and sweet through the dewy morning 
freshness rang the strains of a bugle, flinging its 
message far and wide through the little city of tents. 

Oh ! I can't get ’em up, 

Oh ! I can’t get ’em up, 

“ Oh ! I can’t get ’em up, 

In the morning,” 

sang the brazen trumpet. And indeed it appeared 
to tell the truth. To the tired lads asleep in the 
tents it seemed but a moment since taps had sounded 
the night before. Indeed, Charley Russell stirring 
sleepily on his cot, thought that the strains meant for 
his awakening were merely meant for the ending of 
the notes that had sent him to slumber; for he had 
gone to bed before taps sounded and had fallen 
asleep while that call was still ringing in the crisp 
night air. But the insistent blare of the trumpet 
soon bored its way into his consciousness, and he 
rolled sleepy-eyed and shivering from betwee’" his 


46 


BREAKING IN THE RECRUITS 47 

warm blankets and began to dress. His tent mate, 
Alec Cunningham, was already afoot. 

Like magic the entire camp suddenly hummed into 
activity. The sound of many voices rose like the 
buzzing of busy bees, — boys shouting and calling 
and laughing and joking as they dressed. 

From somewhere down the company street a sleepy 
voice cried out, “Hey, Bill! What time you got? 
Honest, it ain^t more than ten minutes since we 
turned in. Makes me think of that sign we saw 
at the railroad station yesterday : ^ Twenty minutes 
for refreshments.^ ” 

A laugh went up and the same voice continued, 
“ Where do we go from here. Bill? ” 

“ You wash, you big boob,^^ came the answer. 

“ Where? demanded the first speaker. 

“ Over there,’^ came the shouted reply. 

“ Over there I say, I ain’t going to France. I want 
to know where to wash here at State College.” 

“ Why, over there at the hydrants. If you would 
just wake up and open your eyes, you’d see where 
I’m pointing.” 

From all parts of the camp boys were pouring 
forth, like ants from a disturbed ant-hill. 

“ Bet I beat you fellows to it ! ” shouted some one 
in another company street. 

“You’re on! ” came the reply, and the sound of 
many feet racing over the turf came faintly to the 
ear. Then followed explosive, sputtering sounds 


48 


THE HIDDEN AERIAL 


as though heads were being ducked under cold 
spigots, and yells followed for forgotten towels. 

With only fifteen minutes between reveille and the 
salute to the colors, and more than three hundred 
boys to wash at a limited number of faucets, it took 
some lively hustling for the regiment to get through 
with its morning scrub. Water taps were kept run- 
ning and head followed head in quick succession un- 
der the enlivening streams. Indeed, there was no 
temptation to dally. Early summer though it was, 
the temperature at the elevation of the camp, some 
twelve hundred feet above the level of the sea, was 
crisp and chilly at six-fifteen in the morning. 

At six-thirty the bugle blew again. Raggedly but 
promptly the regiment assembled in the great street 
facing the flag, with one battalion to the right and 
one to the left of the flagpole. Then, as the band 
played “ To the Colors,^’ the regiment stood at salute, 
the stars and stripes rose slowly to the top of the 
pole, fluttered for a moment in the breeze, and un- 
furling, waved gently above the serried ranks. 

Hundreds of times before had these lads of the 
Boys^ Working Reserve seen Old Glory waving aloft; 
but never had the sight meant to one of them what 
it now meant. As never before they comprehended 
why men were willing to die for this bright-colored 
bit of bunting. They sensed the fact that where 
these colors floated, freedom, and justice, and peace, 
and order prevailed, that women were free from 


BREAKING IN THE RECRUITS 


49 


wrong, children safe from harm, and men from op- 
pression. They realized that it was to preserve and 
perpetuate such freedom, won by sacrifice and blood- 
shed, and developed by years of trial and effort, that 
our armies had gone to battle with the beast of Eu- 
rope. In that great struggle they themselves were 
about to play a part — a noble part, as they now un- 
derstood. Every heart in the regiment thrilled at 
the understanding. And the thrill was reflected on 
the long rows of shining faces that stretched up and 
down the company street — shining faces that 
looked aloft. 

Of a sudden a sharp command rang out. In a few 
moments the regiment found itself in the wet grass 
of the parade-ground, ready for its first morning 
drill. With few exceptions the regiment was com- 
posed of boys who had no military training. Practi- 
cally the entire regiment was one great awkward 
squad. Each captain took his company in hand, and 
with his lieutenant began to whip it into form. And 
now the captain of B Company found, as the Colonel 
had suggested, that he had indeed a talented com- 
pany. The Camp Brady group numbered about 
one-fifth of the company. These boys, scattered 
through the ranks, very greatly helped their fellows 
to understand and carry out the various orders. 
With one of their own number as second in command, 
they were eager that Company B should excel. Lem, 
moreover, proved to be an excellent drill-master. 


50 


THE HIDDEN AERIAL 


With his firm but quiet and patient manner, he 
speedily won the good-will of the company. From 
the very beginning, therefore. Company B forged to 
the front, and the truth of Jimmy Donnelly’s obser- 
vation was emphasized. It wasn’t the shirts but the 
fellows inside the shirts that counted. 

Drill was followed by setting-up exercises. Spread 
out over the sparkling parade-ground, the regiment 
presented an attractive picture in the early morning 
sunlight. At every sharp word of command three 
hundred boys swayed to right or left, or bent forward 
or back, and three hundred pairs of arms or hands or 
legs or feet waved in unison. And so brisk was the 
pace set by the leader, one of the majors in command, 
that every boy was kept on the alert. 

After what seemed to the hungry lads an intermi- 
nable length of time, the bugle sounded the mess call 
and the regiment marched to McAllister Hall for 
breakfast. Half an hour later the boys were back 
on the parade-ground for further drill. Each com- 
pany had been formed into four squads, each squad 
being headed by a corporal chosen by the men in the 
squad. Again the Camp Brady boys came to the 
front. Their familiarity with military drill and the 
eagerness with which they were working to put B 
Company ahead, naturally led to the choice of three 
of them as corporals. Jimmy Donnelly, with his 
ready wit and good heart, Charley Russell, the lover 
of animals, and George Larkin, a big, serious, de- 


BREAKING IN THE RECRUITS 


51 


pendable lad, were chosen by their comrades to lead 
three of the four squads. 

In the fourth squad were Frank Anderson and his 
chums. The latter wanted Anderson to be the head 
of the squad. 

“ Me be a corporal? responded Frank scornfully. 

I guess not. What^s a corporal for but to do the 
dirty work for somebody else? Nothing doing. Let 
Worthington be corporal. ” 

So the post had fallen to George Worthington, a 
lad from another part of the state. In view of An- 
derson’s contemptuous characterization of the posi- 
tion, Worthington’s willing acceptance of it was 
highly significant. Had Anderson been looking for 
a subservient tool, for some one who would gladly 
do another’s dirty work,” he could hardly have 
made a better choice. Well-built, good-looking, and 
able, young Worthington yet suffered from a fatal 
defect of character. Already his face showed not 
only weakness but craftiness as well, with perhaps 
even a streak of cruelty. In the short period of their 
acquaintanceship he had fallen completely under 
the influence of Frank Anderson. If that latter had 
it in mind to do anything unfair, he had a pliant tool 
in the boy who thus became his nominal superior. 

Following the after-breakfast drill period, the regi- 
ment returned to camp for the daily housekeeping. 
Useless as the required orderliness seemed to some of 
the boys in the regiment, they were to learn, before 


52 


THE HIDDEN AERIAL 


the training camp ended, that orderliness is merely 
an evidence of self-mastery, and that what seemed 
to them a foolish regulation was in reality training 
of the greatest value. For it was to teach them one 
of the fundamental lessons of success in life. But 
boys who had never been compelled at home to ob- 
serve the rule, A place for everything and every- 
thing in its place, now found it hard to comply with 
the rigid rules of the camp life. Particularly was this 
true of such self-willed boys as Frank Anderson. 
The difficulties of the corporals, who must enforce 
orderliness, were still in the future, for on this first 
day the higher officers went from tent to tent giving 
suggestions and assistance where needed. 

The tents in order, the boys of the regiment had a 
bit of leisure. They took advantage of it to get ac- 
quainted. All along the company street boys 
swarmed out of the tents and collected in little groups 
or visited friends in other tents or scraped the ac- 
quaintance of their neighbors. 

At the expiration of the rest period, the bugle 
blew again and the regiment assembled in companies, 
for the first lesson in farm work. Each company was 
at once divided into two equal parts, the one led by 
the captain, the other by the lieutenant. Each half 
went to a distinct task. As second in command, Lem 
had to take charge of half the company. The squads 
headed by Jimmy Donnelly and George Worthing- 
ton fell to his lot. The captain took charge of the 


BREAKING IN THE RECRUITS 


53 


squads led by George Larkin and Charley Russell. 
With a short word of direction to his lieutenant, the 
company commander barked a brief command. His 
two squads formed into a little column, and he led 
them across the parade-ground toward the grove. 
Lem took his little group in a different direction. 
Squad after squad followed, marching toward all 
points of the campus, where instructors were waiting 
in different buildings to give the lads their initial 
lessons. 

For three hours and a quarter the little white 
camp basked in the summer sun, as silent as a de- 
serted city. The flag fluttering idly aloft. Canvas 
walls waved in the breeze. The airing blankets hung 
flapping beside the tents. Into these opened canvas 
houses stole the wind and the life-giving sun to 
cleanse and purify and make wholesome. With the 
cots neatly made, clothes and shoes placed in exact 
and orderly positions, and floors clean and dustless, 
the little tents were the very acme of neatness and 
comfort; and the scene was made the more peaceful 
by contrast with the stirring activity that had so late- 
ly characterized it, and that was so soon to mark it 
again. 

For at eleven-thirty Johnnie came marching home 
again — Johnnie, and all the rest of the embryo farm- 
ers — for an hour^s leisure. By this time the ice was 
broken, not to say completely melted. The contact 
at meals, on the drill ground, and in the classes, had 


54 


THE HIDDEN AERIAL 


banished whatever feeling of formality and diffidence 
had existed when the regiment first assembled. 
Everybody was on good terms with everybody else. 
Wherever boys met, informal introductions and 
bright bits of talk followed. 

I’m Jones, of C Company,” said a lad to little 
Johnnie Lee, when the two ran into each other at the 
end of the company street. 

I’m Lee, of B Company,” was the reply. Glad 
to know you.” 

Glad to know you,” was the response. My 
company’s right back of yours at drill, you know, 
and I noticed you this morning,” said Jones. 

Because I’m so small, I suppose,” said little 
Johnnie, with a good-natured laugh at himself. 

But they tell me I ought to be the champion weed 
puller of the regiment — I’m so near to the ground.” 

The two boys laughed. 

“ I don’t know anything about your ability at weed 
pulling,” said Jones, '' but I noticed you know how to 
drill. You fellows in Company B have got us all 
skinned.” 

Thanks,” smiled Johnnie. See you later.” 

And the two parted with a friendly smile, Jones 
continuing on his way across the camp ground while 
little Johnnie went on down his company street, more 
pleased than he would have admitted. Already he 
had done well enough at something to attract atten- 
tion. He resolved henceforth to try harder than 


BREAKING IN THE RECRUITS 


55 


ever. It might even be possible that he, little John- 
nie Lee — 

Crash! In his day-dream, Johnnie had collided 
with Corporal Donnelly, who was running to catch 
a ball. 

If we only cooked our own grub, I^d put you on 
kitchen police,’^ grunted Jimmy, as soon as he had 
recovered his breath. What do you mean by inter- 
fering with your superior officer? 

He made an attempt to glare at Johnnie savagely, 
but the attempt ended in a grin, and each went on 
his way laughing. 

Corporal Donnelly, who could never be separated 
long from a baseball, had produced two or three old 
balls and some lively games of catch were going on. 
Any one passing down B Company street had to look 
sharper than Johnnie had looked, to guard against 
being hit by a ball. Many boys ran the gauntlet, 
with yells of pretended derision for the ball tossers 
who failed to hit them. Other lads visited back and 
forth in the different company streets, examining 
one another’s tents and equipments, and making fun 
over misfit uniforms. Still others strolled over to the 
big Y. M. C. A. tent and were welcomed by the Sec- 
retary. 

He was a genial young man, with a winning smile 
and a deep voice, who looked as though he could bat 
out a home run or smash through centre at will. 
With his cordial manner he instantly put his youth- 
ful visitors at their ease. 


56 


THE HIDDEN AERIAL 


Glad to see you, boys,^’ he said. “ I thought 
some of you would be over this morning. This tent 
is for your accommodation, you know. I'm always 
glad to do anything I can for the boys who are going 
to help feed the army. In a war hke this, weVe all 
got to pull together ; so if there is anything I can do 
for any of you, come right to me and tell me about 
it. 

You’ll have more spare time after a while, and 
when you want to read, you’ll find books in that case 
over there. You are welcome to play the Victrola 
at any time. The records are in that case. You will 
find games of various sorts at that little table. All 
I ask is that when you are done with things you will 
put them back in their places. If everybody does his 
share, you know, it’s much easier to keep things in 
order.” 

I wonder if everybody is going to tell us that,” 
sighed Alec Cunningham ; and those who knew how 
hard it was for him to be orderly laughed with him. 

That big table in the corner,” added the Secre- 
tary, is the writing-table. You will find pens, ink, 
and stationery there and you are welcome to use 
them at any time you want to drop a line to your 
folks or write to your friends.” 

Several boys at once made their way to the table. 
Others followed. So it happened, as the Secretary 
intended it should happen, that many of these young 
soldiers of the soil spent their first leisure moments 
in writing home. 


BREAKING IN THE RECRUITS 


57 


Dinner followed the hour of leisure, and the after- 
noon was a repetition of the morning, with drill for 
three-quarters of an hour, followed by another period 
of instruction in farm work. Then came a half hour 
of rest before supper, the march to and from McAl- 
lister Hall, and the lowering of the flag at sunset, 
with the regiment in line and the band playing “ The 
Star Spangled Banner.'^ 

Then the regiment fell out. Some of the boys went 
to their tents. Some spent the long twilight playing 
ball on the parade-ground. Some wrote letters in the 
Y. M. C. A. tent, whence came the almost continu- 
ous sound of the Victrola, as boy after boy played 
favorite airs. But all the laughter and shouting and 
sound of music died away as the bugle blew the call 
to vespers. From all quarters the boys came flock- 
ing to the great company street. And there the regi- 
ment sat in a great group on the turf, while the 
Y. M. C. A. Secretary gave a brief talk. Songs were 
sung, a prayer said, and the flrst day at camp was 
history. It had been a day well spent as tired muscles 
and heavy eyelids testifled. Then came taps, the ex- 
tinguishment of every light, and a deep silence brok- 
en only by an occasional laugh or a low call from tent 
to tent that brought instant reproof from some 
watchful corporal. Soon the last sound was hushed. 
The regiment was wrapped in slumber. The end of 
a perfect day had come. 


CHAPTER V 
INSUBORDINATION 

F or Lem it had been more than a perfect day. His 
brief stay at the training camp had been one of 
unbelievable happiness. The distinction that had 
come to him had warmed his very soul. From earli- 
est boyhood Lem had known the pinch of poverty. 
Almost from babyhood he had suffered because his 
widowed mother had less money than her more for- 
tunate neighbors. It was no fault of Lem's that his 
clothes had always been poor and patched, that he 
had had none of the costly playthings other children 
possessed. Yet thoughtless boys had derided him 
because of his clothes or teased him about his pov- 
erty until he had become shy and sullen, fearful of 
his fellows, and surly and revengeful in disposition. 

Then had come his first summer at Camp Brady, 
with its new vision of life and its new lessons of con- 
duct, with his bitter struggle with himself and the 
final complete triumph of his better self over the 
meanness that had grown up within him. Later the 
formation of the Wireless Patrol, and his elevation 


58 


INSUBORDINATION 


59 


to office in consequence of his faithfulness and trust- 
worthiness, had wrought still further changes in the 
lad^s heart, his very gratitude increasing his depend- 
ability. 

Now had come this unlooked for honor, this ap- 
pointment to a position of authority, not merely 
among his few associates, but authority over boys 
who were strangers to him. It was almost beyond 
belief. It was too good to be true. Lem hoped he 
deserved his appointment, or at least was worthy of 
it. In any case, he meant to become worthy. So he 
set his whole soul to the task of making good. But 
little did he dream of the bitter road he was to trav- 
el, of the hard experiences that lay ahead of him, be- 
fore he could hear that official commendation for 
which he yearned, ‘^Well done, good and faithful 
servant.^’ 

His difficulties began without delay. During the 
setting-up exercises next day, and all unrealized by 
himself, Lem split his shirt down the back. Old and 
feeble as it was, the threadbare garment would not 
stand the strain Lem put on it in bending over. The 
result was a long rent that ran nearly the length of 
his back. There was nothing essentially ludicrous 
about a split shirt ; but Frank Anderson, with clever 
cunning, dropped a witty and mean little remark 
about Lem's misfortune, that set his hearers to laugh- 
ing and fastened an unpleasant nickname on Lem. 

Then came a drill period. Every time Lem's back 


60 


THE HIDDEN AERIAL 


was toward the squads he was drilling, a titter broke 
out. Again and again Lem turned sharply to dis- 
cover the reason for the sounds his quick ear de- 
tected. But always the faces were ironed out be- 
fore he could turn completely. Yet he saw a gleam 
of mirth in more than one eye and knew that some- 
thing was afoot behind his back. Intently he lis- 
tened, to locate the sounds. When he found that 
they came from Worthington’s squad alone, he real- 
ized that he himself must be the cause of the merri- 
ment. Had some one said to him that his shirt was 
split, Lem would have understood. Doubtless he 
would not have enjoyed the laughter behind his 
back, but he would at least not have had the tor- 
menting feeling that now took shape in his heart 
that the tittering boys were making fun of him. 

With this belief there rushed into his mind the 
old feeling of desperation, of anger, almost of hatred, 
that he used to feel as a little boy when he was tor- 
mented. For a single instant he lost control of him- 
self and saw red. He was instructing Worthington’s 
men in squad formations, and was marching ahead 
of them. Like a flash he whirled and said savagely. 

Order in the ranks ! Stop your giggling and attend 
to business.” 

It was a fatal mistake. The Anderson crowd, see- 
ing that they were annoying Lem, now tittered the 
louder every time Lem’s back was turned toward 
them. Again and again he turned sharp about but 


INSUBORDINATION 


61 


never could he catch them. Every face was smoothed 
out instantly. The moment Lem turned away from 
them, the titter broke out anew. 

Then B Company drilled as a unit. Again there 
was a tittering in the ranks. By nudges and covert 
glances and even by direct gesture, the boys in 
Worthington’s squad made known to the rest of the 
company the cause of their merriment. Presently 
the entire line was agrin from end to end. Even 
Lem’s own friends joined in the laugh. Of course 
there was nothing malicious in their merriment. No 
more was there in the good-natured smiles that came 
from the remainder of the company. 

But Lem knew nothing of this; and when he saw 
the line agrin, he was mortified beyond belief. He 
flushed and became confused. He misunderstood 
his captain’s commands and issued orders contrary 
to his superior’s mandates. Speedily the company 
was thrown into confusion. 

The captain indignantly turned upon Lem. Is 
your hearing defective? ” he demanded sarcastically. 

“ No, sir,” said Lem meekly, not knowing how to 
defend himself. 

“It ain’t his ears. Captain; it’s his shirt,” called 
out Little Johnnie Lee, forgetful of discipline at the 
sight of his big friend’s mortification. 

The commander came close to Lem, and, laying a 
hand on his shoulder, slowly spun him around. Then 
he, too, joined in the laugh. But he laughed openly 
and with a hearty good-will. 


62 


THE HIDDEN AERIAL 


“ It’s all right, Lem,” he said. You’ve split your 
shirt and these young savages are laughing at you. 
Don’t pay any attention to them. They don’t mean 
anything.” 

But the harm was already done. Lem knew that 
some of his subordinates did mean something. He 
knew that they were even now rejoicing at his dis- 
comfiture. He guessed why and how the inattention 
in the ranks had been caused. Instinctively he 
knew that Frank Anderson had seized the opportu- 
nity to belittle him. A feeling of great indignation, 
almost of anger, filled his heart. He had done noth- 
ing to hurt Anderson. In urging his fellows to be- 
come soldiers of the soil, he had merely done what 
he considered his duty. And with his own appoint- 
ment as lieutenant in place of Anderson he had had 
nothing whatever to do. There was no reason what- 
ever for Frank Anderson’s ill will toward him. Yet 
Lem realized that circumstances had made this rich 
and powerful lad his bitter enemy. He would rather 
not have had his lieutenancy than stir up such ha- 
tred. Now that he had the position he meant to hold 
it and to make good despite anything that Anderson 
and his clique could do. But Lem little realized to 
what extent Anderson would carry his campaign 
against him. Strong of character though he was, if 
he could have foreseen some of the situations that 
awaited him, he would not have faced the future 
so cheerfully. 


INSUBORDINATION 


63 


For when he found that his shirt was torn, he put 
the best face on the matter possible and laughed 
with the company. Thereafter there was no further 
disorder in the ranks, and the drill proceeded with- 
out interruption. 

From the parade-ground the regiment marched to 
camp again to put the tents in order before work be- 
gan. On the previous day the flag awarded daily to 
the company whose tents were in the best order had 
flown above the tent of Company E^s commander. 
To-day Lem was determined that the flag should fly 
at the end of B Company street. After changing his 
shirt and setting his tent in order, Lem strolled down 
the company street. He called together the four cor- 
porals. 

‘‘We want to win that flag to-day, fellows,” he 
said, “ and I know you will help do it. Let^s have 
every tent perfect.” 

The corporals scattered, to look after the tents of 
their respective squads. Lieutenant Haskins con- 
tinued on down the company street. He glanced 
sharply into every tent he passed, and saw that each 
was in perfect order. 

Then the bugle blew the summons to work. 
Quickly the various working groups assembled and 
marched off to their respective duties. The other 
half of B Company went for a lesson in gardening, 
while Lem led his half to the dairy barns. Here the 
boys were to learn how to feed and care for the cattle. 


64 


THE HIDDEN AERIAL 


The first thing to be done was to clean the stables 
and bed them with fresh straw. It was not altogeth- 
er a pleasant task. Lem was the only boy in the 
group who had ever cleaned stables. During the 
preceding summer, when the Wireless Patrol was at 
Camp Brady, the boys had assisted farmer Robinson, 
who was short-handed. There Lem had sometimes 
helped Teddy Robinson with his stable work. So 
now he picked up a dung-fork and assisted the in- 
structor in showing the boys how to handle the ma- 
nure. 

Frank Anderson looked on the entire proceeding 
with unconcealed disgust. Look at that ragamuffin 
lieutenant,” he sneered in an undertone. “ Takes to 
handling manure like a duck to water. IPs easy to 
see where he belongs.” 

At every possible opportunity he dropped a mean 
and insinuating remark behind Lem’s back; and his 
followers, who at first had regarded Lem merely with 
indifference, soon began to share Anderson’s feeling 
of dislike, not to say hatred, for their superior. Thus 
Anderson slyly sowed the seeds of discontent in B 
Company. 

Meantime Lem, trying with all his heart to do his 
duty and to hold his discipline up to the mark, found 
it increasingly difficult to enforce discipline. Natu- 
rally enough his first clash was with Anderson. It 
came before the present lesson was finished. One 
after another, the boys did their turn with the ma- 


INSUBORDINATION 


65 


nure forks. But Anderson cleverly evaded the duty. 
Corporal Worthington winked at the evasion. The 
instructor did not notice it. But Lem^s watchful eye 
detected the fact that Frank was dodging his duty. 

Here^s a fork/^ he said, handing that implement 
to Anderson. ^^Just clean up that corner of the 
stable.'' 

Anderson looked at him scornfully and said with 
a sneer, Don't let me deprive you of the pleasure. 
You do it so naturally." 

A flush mounted to Lem's face, but he kept his 
temper. I don't blame you for not liking the 
job," he said, but we all have to do it. That's what 
we're here for, you know." 

“ You'll have to excuse me," said Anderson inso- 
lently. “ I didn't come for that purpose." And he 
turned his back on his lieutenant. 

It had come to a show down. Instantly Lem saw 
»ihat. He realized that if he let Anderson get away 
with it," his own authority was gone forever. Fur- 
thermore he was thoroughly aroused, though con- 
trolling his temper well. 

Just a minute," he said sharply. ‘‘ Will you take 
this fork and do your trick, or shall I report you? " 

By this time the entire squad had been attracted 
by the altercation. They gathered in a ring around 
the principals. Both Frank and Lem were deter- 
mined hot to yield. 

** Of course I won't," snarled Anderson. You can 
report and be darned." 


66 


THE HIDDEN AERIAL 


It was a flat challenge. Lem did not hesitate a 
moment. The instructor was then in a distant part 
of the building. “ Mr. Smith,” he called. Will 
you please step here? We need you.” 

The instructor came promptly. 

“ Mr. Smith,” continued Lem briskly, here is a 
fellow who will not do his turn with the fork. He 
says he did not come here to learn to handle dung. I 
have given the order and he flatly refuses to obey. 
Will you sustain my order? ” 

He will have to obey the rules if he is to remain 
a member of the Working Reserve,” said the in- 
structor firmly. If he will not obey, he will have 
to leave the training camp.” Then turning directly to 
Anderson, he said diplomatically, ^‘We all have to 
do disagreeable things in war time. You are too 
good a patriot to refuse to do your share.” 

Just as the Y. M. C. A. Secretary at Central City 
had put Anderson in a position where he had not the 
courage to remain, so now the college instructor had 
put him in a light that Frank could not stand. To 
be discharged from the camp for an ordinary disobe- 
dience of regulations would have worried Frank not 
the least; but to be thrown out as a slacker was an- 
other thing entirely. And Frank instantly saw that 
this was what would happen if he now refused to 
obey Lem^s order. He judged others by himself; 
and knowing what use he would make of the situa- 
tion if conditions were reversed and Lem instead of 


INSUBORDINATION 


67 


himself the recalcitrant one, Frank was afraid not to 
comply. He believed that Lem would spread nasty 
stories about him and he feared the result. With 
the nation white hot with war spirit, he could not af- 
ford, even though he was only a boy, to be branded 
as a slacker. All this Frank saw in a flash. Reluc- 
tantly, therefore, and with poor grace, he took the 
manure-fork that Lem again proffered, and began 
to fork the manure from the corner indicated into 
the waiting wheelbarrow, which, in turn, he emptied 
on the compost heap. 

There were no further difficulties in the course of 
the lesson. The stables cleaned and freshly bedded 
with new straw, the young recruits were taught how 
to feed the animals. Silage had to be taken from the 
silos and measured, each animal receiving just so 
much. Hay had to be thrown down from the mows 
and each cow^s portion weighed. The grain ration 
had to be compounded and served in definite propor- 
tions. As the work was done, Mr. Smith, the in- 
structor, explained why the animals were fed as they 
were. The various food ingredients made up a bal- 
anced ration, with so much protein, so much carbo- 
hydrate, and so much fat and mineral matter. And 
he explained that the protein foods furnished the 
elements for repairing worn-out tissues, while the 
carbohydrates supplied energy, and the fats and min- 
erals gave the animals the fat and mineral substances 
needed for growth or the production of milk. 


68 


THE HIDDEN AERIAL 


Frank Anderson’s remarks concerning the care of 
cattle had made dairying seem anything but agree- 
able. But now, as Mr. Smith set forth the principles 
involved in feeding and made plain the particular 
purpose of each element in the food, the class became 
absorbed in what they were doing. Practically all 
the boys in the group had studied chemistry at high 
school. When they realized that the farmer who 
feeds his cows scientifically is really a chemist, dairy- 
ing at once took on a new aspect, and farming as- 
sumed a new dignity in their eyes. And this was but 
the first of many lessons that were to completely al- 
ter the ideas of most of the lads at the training camp 
as to up-to-date farming. Long before they left 
Penn State, these lads of the Boys’ Working Reserve 
saw that the scientific farmer requires quite as wide 
a training and fully as much ability as the engineer, 
the chemist, or the physician. They saw that if 
they ridiculed a farmer of this type, they merely ex- 
hibited their own ignorance. 

More than three hours were consumed by the les- 
son in dairying; and excepting for Frank Anderson, 
every boy in the group came away from the dairy 
buildings feeling that the time had been spent to 
good advantage. Every boy had learned something. 
And every boy had done more. He had had his eyes 
opened to a new and broader view of life. 

Smartly the little company swung along in line, 
keeping perfect step, as they marched from the dairy 


INSUBORDINATION 


69 


buildings back to camp for their hour of leisure. 
Lem marched beside the little group, busy with his 
own thoughts. He was wondering whether or not 
he had done the right thing in forcing the issue 
with Anderson. If he had not had Anderson’s 
whole-hearted hatred before, he knew that he 
would have it henceforth. He knew that An- 
derson and his satellites would lose no oppor- 
tunity to ridicule and annoy him. But that did 
not worry Lem so much on his own account as it 
did on account of the company. Would Company B 
become less efficient because of this opposition to 
himself? Would some of the boys in it learn less 
because of the resulting dissension than would be 
the case if he were not in authority? Had he done 
his best for the regiment, and so for his country, by 
bringing Anderson to terms? Would it not have 
been better to overlook Anderson’s disobedience? 

These and a hundred other questions Lem asked 
himself. He was trying to look at the matter from 
an impersonal point of view, trying to see what was 
his duty in the situation, irrespective of his personal 
feelings. For a lad of his years he was considering 
the matter in an unusually broad and judicial man- 
ner. He was honestly trying to guide himself by 
those principles of action that had been inculcated in 
the Wireless Patrol by its leader. 

But no matter from what angle Lem viewed the 
situation, he could not see that he had done wrong in 


70 


THE HIDDEN AERIAL 


compelling the obedience of Anderson. His experi- 
ences at Camp Brady had shown him the necessity 
of absolute discipline, and he knew that unless he 
compelled obedience to his orders, he would be use- 
less as an officer. The realization made him sigh, 
for he foresaw that there would be other occasions 
when he might have to exert his authority and when 
he might not come off so well. On the whole, he 
was pleased with the outcome of his encounter with 
Anderson. He believed that he had handled the 
matter fairly and properly. And altogether, aside 
from his official opinion of the matter, Lem could not 
help but exult in the fact that he had gotten the 
better of the boy who was trying so hard to down 
him. 

When the company drew near camp and Lem 
raised his eyes and saw the little flag waving at the 
end of B Company's street, the feeling of exultation 
increased. His company had won the palm for or- 
derliness for one day at least. Lem resolved to omit 
no effort that would bring the flag to the same place 
often enough for Company B to win the blue ribbon 
at the end of the training camp. 

Lem went for a moment to his tent. Then when the 
little column fell out he headed for the Y. M. C. A. 
As he passed Anderson’s tent, he noticed Frank 
sitting inside on his cot. His face was buried in his 
hands. Evidently he was in deep thought. Also he 
seemed chagrined. Instantly a feeling of sympathy 
sprang up in Lem’s heart. 


INSUBORDINATION 


71 


He halted abruptly. Anderson/’ he said, I am 
sorry we had that disagreement this morning. I am 
sorry I had to call you down before the whole squad. 
But there was nothing else I could do. You made it 
necessary. I don’t want you to think there was any- 
thing personal about the matter. No matter how 
an officer feels personally, he has to maintain disci- 
pline. I hope we shall have no difficulties in the 
future.” 

Anderson eyed Lem coldly, a savage gleam in his 
eye. You needn’t stop here to crow over me just 
because you had the better of one little tilt. It takes 
more than one swallow to make a summer. And 
anyway, he laughs best who laughs last.” 

It was no use. Lem saw that Anderson meant war 
to the finish. Lem had done all he could do to try 
to smooth things over. And he had failed. “Well,” 
he thought, “ it is no fault of mine. I’ve done the 
best I know how to be square. Let him do his worst. 
He can’t do much more than he did to-day and I got 
through that all right. We’ll see who laughs last.” 

And right there Lem made a great mistake. Could 
he have foreseen some of the difficulties that lay in 
his path, he would not now have gone so cheerily on 
his way. 


CHAPTER VI 


A FRIEND IN NEED 

W HEN ignorance is bliss, it may, under some 
circumstances, be folly to be wise; but that 
was not true in Lem’s case. He needed the tradi- 
tional wisdom of a serpent if he was to come trium- 
phantly through some of the difficulties that lay 
ahead of him. But of this Lem could, of course, know 
nothing. So he went on his way blissfully ignorant, 
or at least cheerily ignorant, happy that he had sur- 
mounted so successfully the first obstacles that had 
arisen in his path. Straight to the Y. M. C. A. tent 
he strode, after leaving Anderson, and there he spent 
his period of leisure writing his daily letter to his 
mother and the following communication to his 
friend. Captain Hardy, in answer to the letter from 
the Captain that had suggested the formation of the 
Central City unit of the Boys’ Working Reserve. 

I got your letter and read it to the boys one day 
when we were at the Y. M. C. A. All of our boys 
were glad to volunteer, of course, but some of the 
other boys made fun of the suggestion. Mr. Haskins 

72 


A FRIEND IN’ NEED 


73 


helped us out by telling us what '^chance it was to 
serve our country. He put it up to us in such a way 
that all the fellows felt the truth of what he said ex- 
cept Frank Anderson, and he — I don’t like to say it 
because it looks as though I wanted to say something 
mean — after what Mr. Haskins said, he just had to 
join or look yellow. 

He got sore at me because the plan went through, 
but all I did was to read your letter to the fellows. 
Then when we got to State College there was a lieu- 
tenancy vacant in our company and Frank tried to 
be made lieutenant. For some reason the Colonel 
picked me for the place. That made Frank awful 
mad. It was no fault of mine. I didn’t try to get the 
place. But when I was appointed, I took it because 
the Colonel said they needed a fellow who had had 
military drill and nobody in the company except our 
fellows had ever drilled. I just kept thinking all 
the time about what you used to tell us, that we 
must be willing to do anything, big or little, that 
will help to win the war. So I took the place and 
am trying to do everything I can to help the work 
along. 

But it is pretty hard to know just what to do. 
Anderson is trying to be mean. We had one little 
run in because he didn’t want to do his share in clean- 
ing out the cow stables and I had to call him down. 
There wasn’t anything personal about it. I simply 
did my duty as an officer. I tried to forget that I 


74 


THE HIDDEN AERIAL 


was Lem Haskins and that Frank Anderson had been 
mean to me. I tried to forget that and just remem- 
ber that I was an officer and had to do an officer’s 
duty. But Frank took it awful hard because I had 
called him down. He as much as threatened me just 
now. I don’t know what he will do, but I guess he 
can’t do anything more than act mean. 

And I am trying hard to remember all that you 
told us about controlling our tempers. But it is aw- 
ful hard because Anderson says — well, you know I 
haven’t any good clothes and I wasn’t able to buy 
new shirts like his crowd, to go with the uniform, and 
he makes fun of me. It isn’t my fault that my shirts 
are patched and I know it isn’t any disgrace to wear 
a patched shirt if I do what is right. But it is hard 
to do what is right and not act the way I want to to- 
ward him. But I am trying to remember all you 
have done for me and how you would be disap- 
pointed if I did what I shouldn’t do. 

Now I guess that is all I have to write. We are 
working hard to learn all we can so as to help the 
farmers as much as possible. My, how I wish I could 
have gone to New York with you. But I will do the 
best I can right at home here. Tell the fellows with 
you that we are working for Uncle Sam, too ; but we 
all wish we were with you in New York. Have you 
caught any German spies yet? 

Your friend, 

Lem Haskins.” 


A FRIEND IN NEED 


75 


When he had finished his letter Lem felt better. 
He had shared his troubles with a friend and they no 
longer seemed so weighty. In fact, when, in passing 
through the camp after leaving the Y. M. C. A. he 
met Mr. Smith, the dairy instructor, and the latter 
thanked Lem for his help during the morning session, 
Lem felt jubilant. His troubles seemed to have van- 
ished into thin air. 

The afternoon^s duties served only to heighten 
Lem’s feeling of satisfaction. His half of Company 
B went for a garden lesson, just as the other half had 
gone in the forenoon. The gardening instructor 
kept the group busy and happily interested from the 
start. Spades were given to the boys and they were 
set to work making a seed-bed. 

Remember now,” said the instructor, that 
though you boys can’t go to France and dig trenches, 
you can get quite as much exercise and be quite as 
useful here in America in the furrows of freedom. 
When you go out on the farms and are put to work 
digging gardens, try to remember that you are digging 
for the world’s safety just as much as you would be 
if you were excavating a trench in Flanders. When 
your back aches and your hands are full of blisters, 
as will certainly be the case sooner or later, if you do 
your duty, think of the fellows whose backs have 
been broken and whose hands have been shot away. 
Grit your teeth and dig all the harder. You’ve got 
to carry on because you are in the second line of de- 


76 


THE HIDDEN AERIAL 


fense. If you fail, the fellows in the first line trenches 
will also fail. You’ve got to go over the top with 
a great big production of food. And to do that, 
you’ve got to use your heads as well as your backs 
and arms. Now go to it.” 

After that speech there wasn’t any chance for An- 
derson or any other boy to loaf on the job. This in- 
structor had put them just where the dairy instructor 
and Mr. Haskins had placed them. They couldn’t 
shirk without looking yellow. Indeed, not a boy in 
the group wanted to shirk, for the instructor soon 
showed them that gardening was more than digging 
in the soil, just as they had already learned that 
dairying was more than cleaning stables. He showed 
them how to get manure compactly under ground so 
that there would be no interruption to the upward 
flow of moisture from the soil reservoir. He showed 
them how to pulverize and fine the soil so that the 
rainfall would be caught and plant roots could pene- 
trate easily. He told them of the capillary action in 
the soil exactly like the capillary action they had 
studies in physics that brought the soil water to 
the surface, and pointed out how to prevent evapo- 
ration by breaking up this capillary action at the sur- 
face of the ground through systematic shallow culti- 
vation. Finally he showed them that plants use 
thirteen elements in their growth, in proportions as 
definite and varying as chemical mixtures, or rather 
chemical mixtures in the laboratory; for scientific 


A FRIEND IN NEED 


77 


gardening and farming is really nothing less than 
chemistry on a huge scale — the balancing of the 
needed elements in the soil by supplying those that 
are lacking, and the preparation of the soil so that 
chemical action can take place. 

For three hours the squad toiled with spades and 
rakes and hoes, not only preparing seed-beds, but also 
planting various seeds. So interesting did the instruc- 
tor make the work that every lad in the group was 
absorbed in what he was doing. The period passed 
quickly and with no unpleasantness of any sort. 
And Lem continued to feel happy and even elated. 

If sunshine follows rain, the reverse is also true, 
and black clouds succeed fair skies. Lem had had 
his period of sunshine, but soon the sky began to 
cloud over for him. Anderson and his fellows lost 
no opportunity to make mean and insulting re- 
marks to or about Lem. During the evening rest 
period that followed the gardening lesson, many of 
the young farmers went to the Y. M. C. A. tent. 
Lem spent a few minutes in his own tent, then de- 
cided to write a letter to Henry Harper, who was in 
New York with Captain Hardy. So he also made 
his way to the Y. M. C. A. 

There he found that the writing-table was lined 
almost solidly with boys. There was one vacancy 
in the line. Absorbed in the thought of what he was 
going to write, Lem paid no heed to the identity of 
the lads who sat on either side of the vacant space, 


78 


THE HIDDEN AERIAL 


but slipped into the place and sat down. Instantly 
the boy on his right rose noisily to his feet, sniffling 
disdainfully. He gave voice to a sound that was 
really little more than a grunt, and that was meant 
to express disgust. If he intended to attract atten- 
tion, he succeeded well. Every boy at the table 
looked up. The lad who had drawn their attention 
was, of course, Frank Anderson. With caution as 
excessive as though he were trying to avoid a muck 
heap, Anderson drew back from Lem and withdrew 
from the table. He said never a word. But the 
sneer on his face and the expressiveness of his action 
spoke plainer than words could have done. Poor 
Lem flushed like a beet. He grew red from the roots 
of his hair to the top of his collar. There was noth- 
ing that he could do to remedy the situation, except 
to try to appear unconcerned. He tried, but was 
obviously embarrassed. 

His confusion increased when Anderson slowly 
stalked to the end of the bench and tried to sit down. 
To make room for him the boys on the bench pushed 
toward Lem. Frank’s withdrawal from the table 
had left Clarence Westervelt nearest to Lem. As 
the others now crowded him toward Lem, he imi- 
tated his leader and rose to his feet, disdainfully 
drawing away from Lem. Poor Lem’s confusion 
became pitiful. His face expressed both anger and 
mortiflcation. He shut his teeth tight and bent his 
eyes on the table, while his face burned and his heart 


A FRIEND IN NEED 


79 


beat fast. He was trying hard to keep a grip on him- 
self. 

Meantime the attention of every lad in the tent 
had become focused on the silent little tragedy that 
was being enacted at the writing-table. Few of them 
knew the reason for it. But none of them misunder- 
stood. The drama was too plain to permit a mis- 
understanding. A boy of patrician features, haughty 
carriage, and costly uniform was trying to humiliate 
a lad in a ragged shirt. That was plain to everybody. 
And it was equally evident that he was succeeding. 
More than one lad looked at Lem with deep sym- 
pathy. No matter what the occasion of the trouble 
might have been, everybody in the room instinctive- 
ly felt that this was carrying a private grudge too 
far. 

They did not know, any more than Lem knew, to 
what extent Anderson was capable of carrying a 
grudge. But it soon became evident that more tor- 
ture was in store for Lem. For Clarence Wester- 
velt, following exactly Frank Anderson’s plan of ac- 
tion, walked proudly to the end of the bench and be- 
gan to crowd the others up toward Lem again. And 
the boy now nearest to Lem was Roger Branscome. 
The cruel, sneering smile on his thin, hard lips fore- 
told all too plainly what he would do when he had 
moved near enough to Lem. 

He never got near enough to Lem, however, to 
follow the example of his fellows. For suddenly 


80 


THE HIDDEN AERIAL 


Tom Sheppard, a rugged country lad with red hair, 
a square chin, and a face full of freckles, jumped 
from a chair in which he was sitting at one side of 
the tent, and almost leaped to the writing-table. 
His face just now was black as a thundercloud. 
Without a word he stepped over the bench and 
plumped himself down in the vacant spot beside 
Lem. But he did not sit close to Lem. Instead he 
crowded hard against Roger Branscome. Then, 
spreading out his great arms and shoulders, he leaned 
over the table like a very rock of Gibraltar, uncon- 
cernedly picking up a pen and starting to write. 

Roger Branscome had risen to his feet before Tom 
sat down. The latter had crowded up so close that 
Roger could not regain his seat, for Clarence Wester- 
velt was still shoving the line forward from the other 
end. Roger, standing in a cramped position and 
crowded on either side, presented a ludicrous ap- 
pearance. A titter went round the room. 

Roger blushed and looked angry. Move up,’^ he 
said sharply to Tom Sheppard. 

Tom was apparently as deaf as the traditional 
adder. He did not budge, but continued unconcern- 
edly writing. Roger stood still an instant, his posi- 
tion constantly becoming more uncomfortable. 

Move up,’’ he fairly shouted at Tom. Move 
up, I say.” 

Tom did not seem to hear him, for he went right 
on with his letter. The titter in the room became a 
laugh. Roger flushed a deeper red than Lem had. 



He yanked him over the bench as he would have handled a sack of meal 


’5»tlr 




A FRIEND IN NEED 


81 


“ Let me out/^ he sho.uted, struggling to step over 
the bench. 

Tom did not move and the boy on Roger’s other 
side could not move. The laughter became uproari- 
ous. Roger suddenly lost all control of himself. 

Let me out,” he fairly screamed. Let me out.” 
At the same time he struck blindly at the big farm 
lad who had turned the tables on him. 

Then something happened that Roger will never 
forget. Like a flash of lightning Tom Sheppard was 
on the other side of the bench, dragging Roger after 
him by the scruff of the neck. He yanked him over 
the bench as he would have handled a sack of meal, 
and set him down on his feet with a jar that fairly 
made Roger’s teeth rattle. 

I’ll let you out, you darned little polecat,” he 
said. You bet I’ll let you out. You don’t think 
I’d want to sit beside you, do you? Now you get 
out of here and — ” 

He was interrupted by Frank Anderson, who had 
sprung from his place at the table and now stood 
before him with flashing eyes. “ You let him alone,” 
said Anderson. 

If you say any more,” remarked Sheppard calmly, 

you’ll go out of the door with him. I’ve seen 
and heard enough of your crowd. You’re a disgrace 
to our company. I don’t know what you’ve got 
against the Lieutenant, but nobody except a pack 
of cowards would annoy him the way you fellows try 


82 


THE HIDDEN AERIAL 


to. He can’t fight you because he’s an officer. And 
I don’t believe you’d fight anyway. But I’m not an 
officer and I can fight whenever I like. And if I see 
you fellows worrying the Lieutenant again, I’ll break 
every one of you in halves. Get out of here or I’ll 
do it now.” 

Anderson took a good look at the lad’s great 
shoulders and brawny arms and hands, glanced at 
the square jaw and the firm mouth, now set like a 
steel trap, and putting his pride in his pocket, walked 
silently from the tent, with Roger Branscome trail- 
ing behind him. 

All this had happened so suddenly and so swiftly 
that the Y. M. C. A. secretary, who was engrossed in 
some work at his desk in a corner of the tent, had not 
heard the quarrel in time to interfere. Now he 
stepped swiftly forward, just as Anderson and his 
satellite disappeared through the tent door. 

What’s this disturbance about? ” he demanded 
severely. 

Sheppard was already turning to the table to re- 
new his letter writing. There wasn’t any disturb- 
ance,” he said quietly. '' It was just a couple of pole- 
cats getting thrown out.” And he sat down, while the 
tent rang with laughter and a great buzz of voices 
broke out as everybody began to discuss the occur- 
rence. 

When Tom Sheppard was seated again, Lem 
turned to him. His eyes were full of gratitude. '' I 


A FRIEND IN NEED 


83 


ought to be able to fight my own battles/’ he said, 
but they’ve got me in a hole. It’s just as you said: 
As an officer I can’t fight, though it was all I could do 
to keep my temper. Besides, I am beginning to be- 
lieve that they are trying to get me into a fight so I’ll 
be reduced to a private.” 

Right you are,” assented Tom. “ It’s as plain as 
anything. But don’t you let them get your goat. 
Everybody in the tent saw what was going on. I 
just couldn’t stand it any longer, so I butted in. If 
they do any more dirty tricks like that, you let me 
tend to them.” 

A few minutes later Lem went to his tent. He 
shook hands heartily with Tom as he left the table. 
When he looked into the lad’s clear, honest eyes, and 
felt the firm grip of his strong fingers, he was 
almost glad that the incident had occurred, for it had 
brought him a new friend, and one that Lem instinc- 
tively knew was worth having. So he went to his 
tent happy in spite of what had occurred. Sunshine 
had come again after clouds^ 


CHAPTER VII 
A SNAKE IN THE GRASS 

S OON after Lem had reached his tent Corporal 
Donnelly came in. He was followed shortly by 
his fellow-corporals, Charley Russell and George 
Martin. Apparently the three had merely drifted 
in as they often did, for a few minutes’ chat. But 
Lem knew in his heart that there was nothing 
accidental about their visit. He understod perfectly 
well that loyal friendship had made them come to 
him in this trying hour. They were there purposely, 
Lem realized, and their purpose was to cheer him up. 

But Lem had reacted so rapidly after his little talk 
with Tom Sheppard that he was no longer in need 
of being cheered up. There was nothing discon- 
solate about his appearance now, and his fellows 
were glad to find that Lem was no longer downcast. 

For a little while no mention was made of the 
incident at the Y. M. C. A. tent. Instead the talk 
was about the lesson in gardening. 

My,” said Charley Russell, '' I’m glad we did that 
little bit of farming last summer at Camp Brady. 

84 


A SNAKE IN THE GRASS 


85 


I can see already that it is going to help us a lot now. 
And what the instructor said about soil preparation 
explains a lot of things we did last summer that 
I didn’t understand then. I wish we’d have another 
lesson about animals soon. You don’t suppose they 
teach us anything about farm dogs, do you? ” 

Probably nothing except to beware of the cross 
ones,” said Corporal Donnelly with a smile, but 
we didn’t need to come here to learn that.” 

They’ve got some dandy horses here,” continued 
Charley. “ I was over at the horse barn to-day, 
while you fellows were playing ball during the rest 
hour. They’re going to teach us how to harness 
and drive, pretty soon.” 

I wish somebody would show us how to harness 
that Frank Anderson,” said Corporal Donnelly. 

He’s got a tough mouth and won’t take the bridle 
worth a cent.” 

“ I guess Tom Sheppard can harness him,” said 
Corporal Martin. 

Tom certainly was bully to-night,” said Corporal 
Donnelly, but we don’t need his help though we’re 
glad he’s with us. If the Wireless Patrol can’t handle 
that gang of Anderson’s, we’re a bunch of dough- 
heads.” Then turning directly to Lieutenant Haskins, 
he continued, Lem, you know we’re all with you, 
every one of us. We’ll give that Anderson gang the 
worst licking they ever had if you just say the word.” 

Thank you, fellows,” said Lem. But we’ve 


86 


THE HIDDEN AERIAL 


got to remember that we’re oflBicers and we can’t do 
anything that would disgrace us. You know what 
Captain Hardy would tell us — that we are here to 
work for Uncle Sam and not to waste our time in 
personal quarrels. Besides, I think that Anderson 
wants to get me into a fight so I’ll be reduced.” 

I think he does, too,” agreed Corporal Martin. 
“ I think he has been trying to right along. But 
we are on to his game, all right. Everybody in the 
Y. M. C. A. tent saw what he was up to, and I don’t 
believe he will try it again because everybody would 
know who was to blame.” 

If he stops trying to pick a quarrel,” said Charley 
Russell, I don’t see that there is much else he can 
do. I don’t believe we’ll have much more trouble 
with him.” 

You’ve got another guess, Charley,” said Jimmy 
Donnelly. That kind of a reptile never quits trying 
to bite. You fellows just keep your eyes open. 
He’ll be up to something and it will be pretty sly. 
We’ve got to get wise and tip Lem off about it.” 

Sooner than anybody had expected, the truth of 
Jimmy’s words became evident. Lem had set his 
heart on having Company B win the blue ribbon 
for orderliness. During the brief existence of the 
training camp. Company B had so far led the regi- 
ment only one day. But as no other company had 
won that distinction more than once, this did not 
seem strange. At least it did not seem so to any one 


A SNAKE IN THE GRASS 


87 


but Lem. He had made an unusual effort to have his 
company perfect. Each day he called upon his 
corporals to see that everything was in proper order, 
and had even made a hurried daily inspection 
himself. On each occasion he had found things in 
what he considered perfect condition. That was 
why it puzzled him a little when the flag fluttered 
at the head of some company street other than his 
own. 

Lem brought the matter up now. We can’t do 
anything to Anderson in which we can even up with 
them. Anderson cares for nothing but himself. 
He has no sense of loyalty to the company or to the 
regiment. He’s mad at me and I believe he thinks 
more about downing me than about anything else. 
If we can block him, if we can put B Company at 
the head of the regiment in spite of all he can 
do, that will hit Anderson hard. It is a much better 
way to get even with him than to go out and fight 
him. One way we can win some distinction is to 
get that blue ribbon for orderliness. Can we do it? ” 

Surest thing you know, Lem,” said Corporal 
Jimmy. We’ll take extra care from now on to have 
everything in apple-pie order; won’t we, fellows?” 

You bet,” cried the other two corporals. 

And certainly they did their best to make their 
words good. The next day at the period for putting 
the tents in order, the three corporals hustled from 
tent to tent in B Company Street, scrutinizing 


88 


THE HIDDEN AERIAL 


everything carefully. They spoke to Corporal 
Worthington, too, and asked him to be sure that his 
squad had their tents in perfect shape. Just before 
the bugle called them away from camp, Lem strolled 
through B Company street himself, glancing sharply 
into every tent. Then he made a rapid tour of the 
camp, glancing into the tents in the various company 
streets through which he passed. To Lem it seemed 
as though no other company could quite compare 
with B Company in orderly appearance. So he 
marched off to work with his half of B Company, a 
few moments later, well satisfied. 

But when he came marching back, at the end of 
forenoon work period, and saw the fiag fiuttering 
at the head of D Company street, Lem was 
deeply disappointed. But his disappointment was 
as nothing compared to his amazement when his 
captain called him into his tent and diplomatically 
suggested that Lem try a little harder to make B 
Company more orderly. The Colonel, the Captain 
said, had reported B Company as not up to the 
standard of the rest of the camp. His captain, 
who fully understood how hard Lem was working 
for the success of the company, was as tactful as 
possible in what he said. He did not want Lem to 
feel that he was being reprimanded. But Lem was 
not deceived by the way the thing was put. He 
knew that he was being called to account by his 
superior officer. 


A SNAKE IN THE GRASS 


89 


At the same time he knew he was not only blame- 
less, but that he had been more than particular in his 
efforts to enforce orderliness. In view of what the 
captain had just said, it was idle for Lem to try to 
convince him that things had been in order when the 
company marched away. That would look as though 
he were trying to excuse himself or lie about the 
situation. So he replied merely that he would try 
harder in the future. 

Lem was sadly perplexed. He could not doubt 
the Colonel’s word, yet he had seen with his own 
eyes that the tents of B Company were in perfect 
order. Leaving the Captain’s tent, he started on an 
inspection, but found it useless, for, after their return 
from work, the boys had more or less disarranged 
things. So Lem went to his own tent, sadly puzzled. 

He got his first insight into the matter, when he 
called in his three corporal friends and told them 
about the situation. 

‘^That’s plain enough,” said Jimmy Donnelly, 
when Lem finished his story. It’s just another 
effort to get you into trouble, Lem. I don’t know 
how Anderson did it, but I’ll bet a dollar we’ll find 
he’s at the bottom of it.” 

Lem was amazed. Not given to treachery himself, 
he was slow to suspect it in others. But the longer 
he pondered over the matter, the more he became 
convinced that Jimmy was right. However Ander- 
son had done it, Lem now believed his enemy had 


90 


THE HIDDEN AERIAL 


secretly and treacherously disarranged things in an 
effort to bring a reprimand down upon him, and 
had succeeded all too well. If Anderson could and 
would do this, how far would he go and what might 
he not do? A very black look came into Lem’s face 
as he considered the matter and a feeling of deep 
anger rose slowly but irresistibly in his heart. 
Instinctively he foresaw, that if this sort of thing 
continued, he was going to have difficulty in control- 
ling his temper. 

But the problem now was to discover just when 
and how the treachery to Company B had been 
accomplished. For, if Anderson had done the thing 
he was suspected of doing, his act became more than 
something done to an individual. It was really and 
truly treachery to his company. The longer Lem 
thought the situation over, the more this aspect of 
the situation stood out. Had the matter affected 
only himself, he would have preferred to pass it 
over. But it affected the entire company, and Lem 
owed a duty to his company, just as he owed a duty 
to his regiment. That duty made it necessary that 
he should discover the culprit, if possible, and see 
that he was brought to justice. Thus Lem could 
not honestly overlook this blow aimed at himself, 
however much he might wish to do so. Yet if he did 
his duty, if he hunted down the perpetrator and 
exposed him and the perpetrator proved to be 
Anderson, it would appear as though Lem was 


A SNAKE IN THE GRASS 


91 


persecuting Frank because of the personal feeling 
between them. And above all things, Lem did not 
want to appear mean minded. No matter from 
what point of view Lem looked at the situation, it 
appeared very ugly. 

All this flashed through Lem’s mind in the few 
minutes that he remained silent, while he turned 
over in his mind Corporal Jimmy’s words. When 
finally he spoke, he said slowly, I’m afraid you are 
right, Jimmy. I’m afraid you’re right.” 

Of course I’m right,” said Jimmy. Didn’t I 
tell you he’d be trying something sneaky next? 
There’s only one way to fix a fellow like that — get 
him with the goods and show him up.” 

I’m afraid so,” sighed Lem, but I don’t like 
to do it.” 

'^Well, you don’t have to,” said Charley Russell. 

Leave it to us. We’ll get him.” 


CHAPTER VIII 
A REPRIMAND 

R apidly the days flew by. One by one the boys 
were introduced to the multitudinous tasks that 
make up the round of existence in the country. 
Each day they learned more concerning the intrica- 
cies of farm life. If any open-minded boy in the regi- 
ment had come to the training camp thinking that 
farm life was a matter that v. ailed for little besides 
muscle, he was speedily undeceived. As, day by day, 
the complexity of life and labor on a modern farm 
became evident, the boys lost entirely whatever 
feeling of contempt they might once have had for 
farmers and farm life, and first wondered at and then 
came to admire the man who could run a farm 
successfully. No matter what they studied, whether 
it was hay-making or the repairing of machinery 
or the feeding of calves or the care of poultry or 
the preparation and planting of a good seed-bed, 
they found that muscle alone would not answer. 
They realized that the successful farmer must have 
brains as well as brawn and that unlike the town 


92 


A REPRIMAND 


93 


man, who is an expert in one thing only, the farmer 
must be master of twenty sciences. 

As they passed from lesson to lesson, each lad in 
the regiment found some particular task that 
especially appealed to him. Thus little Johnnie Lee, 
who had come thinking that growing food was a 
wearisome and joyless task, speedily found that 
gardening, far from being unattractive and tiresome, 
was fascinating. The quick-growing seeds planted 
in the first garden lesson came up speedily, while the 
plants started by the earlier classes grew large and 
sturdy; and little Johnnie realized for the first time 
what exquisite pleasure there is in tending growing 
things. To hoe and rake and feed and water these 
little creatures, and to see them grow day by day, 
brought to Johnnie a joy that he would never have 
believed possible. The reason was that now Johnnie 
was working for an end and working intelligently. 
He had come to understand exactly what he was 
trying to do and how to do it. Pulling weeds and 
wielding a hoe no longer seemed to him to be merely 
pulling weeds and wielding a hoe. They were 
conserving water and breaking up capillary action 
by means of a hoe — a far different matter from 
the unintelligent toil he had formerly ignorantly 
known only as weeding the garden.” In short, 
Johnnie was experiencing the joyful satisfaction 
that comes to every intelligent soul who finds his job 
in the world. He was realizing for the first time the 
satisfaction of creating. 


94 


THE HIDDEN AERIAL 


Probably no one found a keener delight in his 
work than Charley Russell. From infancy he had 
been unusually fond of animals. Dogs and horses 
were his especial favorites. Ever since the day he 
had begun to train Judge Gordon’s hunting dogs, 
in order to earn his share of the money required 
for the camp outfit of the Wireless Patrol, he had 
looked forward to the day when he could work with 
animals. And now that day had come. 

Finding no dogs to handle, Charley had early 
turned his attention to the college horses. Early and 
late he was at the horse barns, whenever he could 
snatch a few moments from the required duties. 
Because of his evident love for the animals and his 
fondness for handling them, the stable hands gave 
Charley unusual privileges. He was allowed to do 
things about the barns that none of the other young 
farmers had ever been permitted to do. When other 
lads of the training corps were down in the village 
after supper, Charley was in the barns helping the 
men with their chores. His pocket-money, that 
another boy would have spent at the movies, Charley 
invested in apples for his four-footed friends. In 
no time at all they came to know the lad and 
responded to his feeling of affection. Before many 
days had passed more than one farm horse would 
whinny at Charley when he entered the barns. In 
an amazingly short time he acquired an astonishing 
amount of knowledge concerning the care and 


A REPRIMAND 


95 


feeding of horses and the treatment of sick qnes. 
And he soon knew almost more about the habits and 
dispositions of the various work horses than the 
regular stable hands did. 

Naturally enough, interest in the different lessons 
varied according to the tastes of the boys in 
the squads at work. Some disliked work with 
machinery; some found the care of animals irksome. 
But one lesson seemed to be popular with everybody. 
That was the session for chopping wood. At first 
glimpse, it seemed foolish to many of the boys to 
spend time learning to chop wood. There was not a 
boy in the regiment, with the possible exception of 
one or two rather effeminate lads, who did not 
believe he knew very well how to split wood. But 
a session in. the wood-yard behind one of the barns 
soon dispelled this idea. The fact soon became 
evident that with the possible exception of Tom 
Sheppard, there was hardly a boy in the regiment 
who really understood how to handle an axe to 
advantage. Not a boy in the troop would have 
believed that a lesson in wood chopping could be 
as interesting as the instructor made it. He showed 
them ’how to split logs with wedges. He taught his 
pupils how to cut diagonally across the grain of 
the wood instead of straight across, and showed 
them when it was best to split a chunk of wood 
endwise and when best to strike it on the side. He 
showed how to cut lengths from a log or a cord-wood 


96 


THE HIDDEN AERIAL 


stick both with the cross-cut saw and the axe, and 
explained when to do each. Doubtless all American 
boys like to chop wood. Perhaps this is because 
they are descended from a race of pioneers who 
subdued a continent with their axes. Whatever the 
reason, the boys at Penn State found wood chopping 
one of the most pleasant tasks set them. 

Yet not all of them did their stints without some 
unpleasantness. It was Lem’s fate that he should 
come away from the wood-yard with another ache 
in his heart. If only the group he headed had not 
included Corporal Worthington’s squad, Lem would 
have had no trouble. With all the other members of 
B Company he had become very popular because 
of his unselfish efforts to keep the company in the 
lead. Anderson’s treatment of Lem at the Y. M. C. A. 
had reacted against himself, and excepting for 
his immediate followers, he had few friends and 
well-wishers in the regiment. But Worthington’s 
squad had been assigned to Lem, and he was too 
good a soldier to ask for a change on personal 
grounds. The result was that daily he had to 
endure whatever humiliating act Anderson or his 
crowd chose to perform. His position was rendered 
the more difl&cult by the fact that though he was an 
officer he was at the same time a fellow student 
of the lads he led. 

On the occasion when Lem’s half of the company 
had its lesson in wood cutting, Lem, as usual, 


A REPRIMAND 


97 


buckled down to the work at once. For years he 
had split wood for his mother’s fires ; he had handled 
an axe when in the forest with the Wireless Patrol; 
and altogether he was pretty proficient with that 
instrument. At once, therefore, he began to instruct 
some of the greener lads while the teacher was busy 
with others. He was making the chips fly smartly 
when Roger Branscome stopped for a second in 
passing and looked at him. 

“ Don’t work too hard, Lieutenant,” he said, or 
you’ll split your shirt.” 

The remark was apparently innocent enough. 
But in view of what had happened it was as 
venomous as the blow of a copperhead. Further- 
more, it was a remark to which Lem could not take 
exception. So he paid no attention to it and went 
on with his work. But the barb from Roger’s 
tongue stuck in Lem’s heart, as Roger meant it 
should. 

Presently Clarence Westervelt and Frank Harkins, 
another of Anderson’s chums, moved over to the 
place where Lem was chopping and stopped to look 
at him. In pretended admiration Clarence remarked 
quietly to his companion, “ He’s some wood-chopper, 
isn’t he? Why, he can chop wood almost as well 
as he can clean cow stables. He knows how to do all 
the hired man’s jobs.” 

Like Roger’s remark, this bit of conversation was 
poisoned with venom. It was said in a low tone 


98 


THE HIDDEN AERIAL 


that was intended to reach Lem without being 
overheard by any others. The experience at the 
Y. M. C. A. had at least taught the Anderson crowd 
caution. But Corporal Jimmy had come within 
ear-shot while Clarence was speaking. Quick as a 
shot he answered. 

Yes,” he said. Lem’s pretty handy with an 
axe. If he keeps on, he’ll be able to split wood 
almost as well as Abraham Lincoln could.” 

But Jimmy’s well-meant reply brought no balm 
to Lem. The poison had reached his heart. No 
matter how hard he tried to forget, he could not 
help remembering the unkind words with their 
implied slur and their reminder of his poverty. For 
an instant he even saw red and was tempted to give 
his tormenters a beating. But the thought that this 
was what his tormenters were trying to drive him 
to do steadied Lem like a dash of cold water. He 
took a grip on himself and went on with his 
chopping. 

But now a new fear entered his soul. He began 
to be afraid that some time he would lose control of 
his temper and so play into his tormentors’ hands. 
This thought really bothered him more than the 
insults his enemies had heaped upon him. 

So Lem marched back to camp with a heavy heart. 
When he came in sight of the little village of tents 
and saw that the flag flew at the head of E Company 
street instead of B Company, his heart sank still 


A REPRIMAND 


99 


lower. But the climax came when his captain called 
him into his tent and this time told him bluntly that 
B Company would have to make a better record 
for orderliness. Again the Colonel had complained 
of the condition of B Company street and of some 
of the tents in the street. Yet Lem knew that when 
the company marched away to the wood-yard, the 
company street had been spotless and the tents 
without fault. 

I have spoken to the corporals each day, sir,’^ 
he said. Have you any idea whose tents were 
untidy? '' 

His superior looked at him keenly. “ The worst 
offender in the company seems to be your friend. 
Corporal Donnelly,’’ he said. You musn’t let 
your friendship stand in the way of your duty, 
sir.” 

And with that curt reprimand Lem was ushered 
out of his captain’s tent. 


CHAPTER IX 
UNDER SUSPICION 

W HEN Lem related to Corporal Jimmy what 
the Captain had said to him, Jimmy at once 
exploded. With his outspoken way and his fiery 
Irish nature, he was for going to the commanding 
officer and explaining that his tent had been in per- 
fect order when he marched away to work. And per- 
haps that might have been the best course. But 
Lem advised against it. 

It will look too much as though you were lying, 
Jimmy,'^ said Lem. If you say your tent was in 
order, the Captain will want to know how it got into 
disorder. You can’t tell him, for you don’t know. 
All you could do would be to say that somebody with 
a grudge against you must have done it. He will 
want to know who bears such a grudge and why. 
Then you will have to tell him, Jimmy, and, and — 
well, I’d rather he didn’t know the rest. He might 
think a fellow that had as many enemies as I seem to 
have is not fit to be a lieutenant.” 

But if he knew why those fellows don’t like you, 
100 


UNDER SUSPICION 


101 


he’d think all the better of you, Lem. It’s an honor 
to make enemies that way.” 

Well, Jimmy, I’d rather you wouldn’t tell him 
anyway. If you say anything, you’ll have to tell him 
everything. I know in my heart it is no disgrace to 
be poor — only to remain poor. And I’m not going 
to remain poor. But I am poor now, and though it 
may be no disgrace it is not pleasant to have it held 
up before me all the time. All he knows about me 
now is that I am one of some three hundred boys 
who came here to help their country. That’s 
enough.” 

For your sake, Lem,” Jimmy agreed reluctantly, 
I won’t say a word about it this time. But if those 
muckers stack our tents again, I won’t stop with the 
Captain. I’ll go straight to the Colonel. I won’t 
stand for being put in a false light that way.” 

Perhaps you are right, Jimmy. But I’d rather 
catch those fellows before I squeal. If we get the 
goods on them. I’ll tell the Captain soon enough — 
though for personal reasons I’d rather not do it even 
then. But I owe that duty to the company, and I’d 
do it.” 

“ All right, Lem. We’ll catch them, then. You 
leave it to us. We’ll get them.” 

How are you going to do it? ” 

Never mind about that. We’ll get them all 
right.” 

But it was one thing to say it, and quite another 


102 


THE HIDDEN AERIAL 


to make good what had been said. Jimmy went 
nosing about through the company, for he was a 
general favorite, making guarded and cautious in- 
quiries; but nowhere could he find a ray of light. 
When the company marched off to work next day, 
the Captain led his charges away first, which was 
exactly what Corporal Jimmy had been wishing for. 
He brushed past Lem as the latter was assembling 
his squads. 

Send me back for something,” he whispered. 

All right,” said Lem in a low tone. Aloud he 
called, Attention ! Forward, march ! ” And the 
little group started for the horse barn. 

Half-way to the barn, the Lieutenant suddenly 
cried, Halt! ” 

As the troop stopped in surprise, Lem said, “ Cor- 
poral Donnelly, I forgot a roll of papers that is on 
my cot. Will you please go back and get them? ” 

Corporal Donnelly saluted his superior and was 
off like a shot. Soon after they reached the horse 
barn he rejoined his comrades. 

Did you find what you were after? ” asked Frank 
Anderson, with a sneering laugh. 

“ Sure,” said Corporal Jimmy, and he handed a 
small roll of papers to Lem. 

The papers were only a blind. He had made up 
the roll himself. The real thing he had gone for he 
had not discovered, for the company street was in 
perfect order. But if Jimmy had previously had 


UNDER SUSPICION 


103 


any doubts as to Frank Anderson’s culpability, he 
had them no longer. Suspicion became certainty 
the minute Anderson opened his mouth. For the 
question, Jimmy well knew, was meant as a taunt. 
And Anderson would have no reason to taunt him 
unless he was guilty or had guilty knowledge, con- 
cerning the disordered tents. Even as Jimmy smiled 
in making answer, he vowed that he would never 
quit his search until he had exposed Anderson and 
brought upon him the punishment he so richly de- 
served. For with Jimmy, too, the matter had now 
become a personal one. 

As Charley Russell had foretold, they were to 
learn to harness a horse. For the purpose of their 
lesson, the instructor- — a stable hand temporarily 
employed to teach stable work — selected a large, 
powerful work horse. The animal had been in the 
stable for several days and was too full of spirit to 
stand very patiently. The instructor took a heavy 
work harness down from the pegs on the wall, and 
shouldering the harness, led the horse into the stable 
yard. 

“ Now watch closely,” he said as he threw the har- 
ness on the horse’s back. We’ll put the bridle on 
first,” he continued, so that we can control the 
horse better if he should become restive.” 

He slipped off the halter and tried to put the bit in 
the horse’s mouth. The animal did not take it read- 
ily, but the instructor finally succeeded in getting 


104 


THE HIDDEN AERIAL 


the bit in the horse’s mouth, tucked the animal’s ears 
under the crown of the bridle, and buckled the 
throat-latch. Then he fastened the collar, adjusted 
and buckled the hames, fastened the crupper under 
the tail, and tightened the belly-band. The horse 
was ready for work. 

‘^Now take the harness off,” he said, and one of 
the boys began to remove it. To do that was no 
trick at all, and in a jiffy the animal was stripped. 

^^Now put the harness back on,” said the in- 
structor. 

By chance his glance fell on Frank Anderson. 
Frank took the bridle and had little difficulty in get- 
ting it adjusted. Having owned and ridden a saddle- 
horse for years, Frank was quite familiar with that 
part of a harness. He had never put on a work har- 
ness before, but it gave him no trouble. He handled 
it almost like an old-timer. 

“ Very well done,” commented the instructor, and 
Frank walked away from the horse with a well-sat- 
isfied air. 

Boy after boy followed, and except for increasing 
difficulty in getting the horse to take the bit, none 
of them experienced any real trouble until it came 
Johnnie Lee’s turn. Little Johnnie was very short. 
The horse was very tall. Johnnie could by no means 
reach to the top of the horse’s head. He tried vari- 
ous ways of getting the animal to lower his head, but 
the only result was to make the horse increasingly 


UNDER SUSPICION 


105 


restless. The animal would no longer stand quietly. 
Little Johnnie had to look sharp to avoid being trod- 
den upon. Finally the inspector led the horse over 
to a fence. The animal stood at right angles to the 
fence, and Johnnie stood astride the top rail while 
he tried to adjust the bridle. His comrades, who had 
been standing in a single group, now naiturally split 
into two smaller groups. And just as naturally 
Frank Anderson and his crowd collected on one side f 
of the animal, while Lem’s friends stood on the other 
side. But no one gave the matter any thought. It 
was merely a natural and accidental grouping. 

Finally Johnnie got the bridle fastened, and, red 
and somewhat flustered, hopped to the ground to 
finish the job. The harness was too heavy for him to 
lift to the horse’s back, so Lem stepped forward to 
help his little comrade. By this time the horse had 
become exceedingly impatient. Now he began to 
back away from the fence. The instructor caught 
the bridle and the horse ceased to back. Instead 
he began to prance sidewise. Before Lem saw what 
was happening, the animal had stepped on his foot. 
Fortunately only the edge of the hoof fell across his 
foot. No bones were broken and the foot was not in- 
jured. But it pained severely for a moment. Lem 
gave a sharp exclamation, partly of pain and partly 
of iiritation, and threw the harness over the animal 
for Johnnie. While the latter was adjusting the 
straps and buckles, Lem nursed his aching foot. 


106 


THE HIDDEN AERIAL 


As the officer in command, Lem had purposely 
left himself until last. By the time every other lad 
in the group had harnessed the horse, the animal was 
so restive that he could hardly be restrained. Lem 
started to put on the bridle. 

What did you step on me for? ’’ he asked. The 
question was not put in anger, but to some of the on- 
lookers it seemed to be. The instructor was one of 
those who were deceived. He thought Lem intended 
to get even ” with the horse. 

Never mind,'' he said. “ The horse was not to 
blame. Just hurry up and get that bridle on." 

But it was one thing to order the bridle on and 
quite another to put it on. The impatient horse had 
now developed some stubbornness. Try as Lem 
might, he could not force the bit between the horse's 
teeth. 

Open your mouth," he said sharply. The horse 
refused to take the bit. Open up ! " said Lem. 

The horse laid back his ears and began to prance. 
The instructor saw that Lem's effort was useless. He 
turned to get the halter, meaning to end the lesson. 
As he turned his back, Frank Anderson, on the op- 
posite side of the animal, shot a little pebble with a 
stout rubber band. It struck the horse in the sensi- 
tive part of the flank. Standing between and slight- 
ly behind two companions, Frank was completely 
hidden from observation. No one but his immediate 
friends saw him shoot the pebble. The horse reared 
and began to plunge violently. 


UNDER SUSPICION 


107 


The instructor ran back and grabbed the horse 
by the nostrils. Fool! he said savagely at Lem. 

Some of you might have been killed. A fellow that 
doesn’t know any better than to strike an excited 
horse has no business being an officer. You ought to 
be demoted.” 

“ I didn’t strike the horse,” said Lem, astonished 
at the reprimand. 

Then what made him jump so?” demanded the 
instructor. I know that animal too well to believe 
he did that without cause. Something hit him and 
you were the only person near enough to do it.” 

He didn’t hit him,” spoke up Corporal Jimmy. 

I was standing near to help him if the horse got un- 
ruly. He never touched the animal.” 

The instructor eyed the two boys narrowly. Then 
what did startle him? ” he asked. 

^^I thought I saw a pebble drop on the ground 
when the horse jumped,” said little Johnnie Lee. 
“ Some one might have thrown it at the horse.” 

'' Did any one hit this horse with a pebble? ” asked 
the instructor sternly. 

‘^No, sir,” was the unanimous response, and no- 
body said it louder than the boys on Anderson’s side 
of the horse. 

The instructor led the animal away. I advise you 
to keep your temper better,” he said to Lem in part- 
ing. ‘‘ It’s a pretty small business, trying to get re- 
venge on a dumb animal.” 


108 


THE HIDDEN^ AERIAL 


Very evidently the man believed that Lem had 
struck the horse and that both Lem and Jimmy had 
lied to him. It was useless to make any reply, and 
Lem turned away hurt and confused. The titter that 
broke out among the Anderson crowd did not help to 
soothe his spirit. Brusquely he ordered his compan- 
ions to fall in. Then the group marched silently 
back to camp. But all the way there was a suspicious 
air of levity at the Anderson end of the line. 

When the little group disbanded, Jimmy and 
Johnnie came at once to Lem’s tent. They found 
him sitting glumly on his cot, his face downcast. 

It seems to make no difference how hard I try,” 
he said to Jimmy, somehow or other I always get 
in wrong.” 

I’d like to know how they did that,” said Jimmy 
wrathfully, paying no heed to Lem’s lamentation. 

Did what? ” 

“ Why, scared that horse.” 

'' I don’t see how anybody could have scared him. 
I had his head and nobody touched him. I’m sure 
of that. Yet I don’t understand what made him 
jump.” 

'' I don’t either,” said Jimmy. “ But something did, 
and I’d bet a dollar to last year’s almanac that that 
Anderson crowd did it.” 

I’m certain I saw that pebble drop,” piped up 
Johnnie Lee, though, of course, the horse might 
have kicked it up when he jumped. I wish I could 
be certain.” 


UNDER SUSPICION 


109 


^^Well, if anything did hit that horse,” said 
Jimmy, it must have been a pebble, for nobody 
touched him with anything else. And if anybody 
did throw a pebble, I know where it came from.” 

There was a short silence, each boy being busy 
with his own thoughts. Suddenly Corporal Jimmy 
spoke up. Johnnie,” he said, run out and get all 
the boys of the Wireless Patrol. It looks as though 
it would take the whole bunch of us to get those 
fellows. But we’ll do it, even if we bust a trace do- 
ing it.” 

A few moments later Johnnie came rushing in. 

Did you see the flag, Lem? ” he asked. 

What flag? ” 

Why, the one for orderliness.” 

No.” 

^^Well, it’s flying right over our heads. We beat 
them out to-day.” 

It was the truth. The futility of Corporal Jim- 
my’s return for the roll of papers was explained. He 
had found no disorder because Company B led the 
regiment for neatness. Poor Lem had been so down- 
cast upon his return from the horse barn that he had 
not even noticed the evidence of his success. 

His comrades came trooping in. The situation 
was explained to them. 

Did you have old Dobbin? ” inquired Charley 
Russell. 

That’s what the instructor called him,” said Lem. 


110 


THE hidde;n aerial 


Why, that horse is as gentle as a kitten. He’d 
never act that way without cause. I believe John- 
nie’s right about the stone. Why, those scoundrels 
might have caused an accident. It’s too bad you 
didn’t see where the stone came from, Johnnie. 
Then we’d have had the goods on those fellows.” 

We’re going to get the goods on them,” said Cor- 
poral Jimmy. We’re going to give them the big- 
gest jolt they ever had. Frank Anderson needn’t 
think that just because his father owns a big mill he 
can walk on us and get away with it. The whole 
Wireless Patrol is going after him and we’ll get him 
as sure as we got those German dynamiters at Elk 
City. From now on, we’ve got to watch everything 
he does. We may even have to establish a twenty- 
four hour watch as we did at the Camp Brady wire- 
less station. But no matter what it costs, we’re go- 
ing to get him. Aren’t we, fellows? ” 

Of course, we are.” 

Mum’s the word, but keep your eyes peeled.” 

Right you are.” 


CHAPTER X 


LITTLE PITCHERS HAVE BIG EARS 

T) UT keeping a watch on Frank Anderson did not 
^ seem to bring the desired results. For a time 
nothing serious occurred to increase Lem’s unhap- 
piness. Apparently Anderson realized that he was 
being watched, for he was now extremely careful to 
do nothing unfriendly toward Lem when he was un- 
der observation. He even ceased to make slurring 
remarks openly, for the story of what happened at 
the lesson on harnessing the horse got abroad, and 
more than one boy in the regiment who had heard 
Frank say mean and insinuating things about Lem 
expressed the opinion that if Johnnie Lee had seen 
a pebble fall, that pebble had to come from some- 
where and Frank Anderson wasn’t above sending it. 
For now it was realized that the matter was a serious 
one. 

Unwittingly, Frank had hurt himself in making 
mean remarks about Lem much more than he had 
hurt Lem. The latter, on the other hand, by refrain- 
ing from talking about Frank, and by refusing to 
111 


112 


THE HIDDEN AERIAL 


take advantage of his position as Frank’s superior to 
attempt to even up his score with Frank, had won 
many admirers. For as soon as it was evident that 
antagonism existed between Lem and Frank, the 
boys in B Company who did not come from 
Central City began to ask questions. Naturally 
many asked Corporal Donnelly, who was perhaps the 
most popular boy in the company, and Jimmy 
frankly told the whole story. So it came about that 
except for his immediate chums, and one or two lads 
like Corporal Worthington who were impressed by 
Anderson’s apparent wealth, Frank had few friends 
in B Company and the regiment. His action with 
regard to Lem had proved to be a boomerang. 

By this time every boy in the regiment had come 
to realize that the work at the training camp was 
serious business. Before arriving at Penn State, 
many of the lads in the regiment had regarded the 
work before them as more or less of a lark. 'They 
could hardly associate life in a tent with hard work. 
But by this time the glamour had vanished. The 
bugle no longer meant romance. The playtime 
spirit had worn off. The sternness of military drill 
had impressed them with the necessity for obedi- 
ence, for carrying out orders, no matter how un- 
pleasant or difficult they might be. And the 
enthusiasm of the instructors had lifted the work 
to a level not dreamed of by these lads prior to their 
arrival at Penn State. The idea originally held by 


LITTLE PITCHERS HAVE BIG EARS 113 


many of them that in two weeks’ time they could 
learn about all there was to farming, had entirely 
disappeared ; and they saw that in so short a space as 
that they could hardly hope to get even the rudi- 
ments of general farm practice. Impressed with 
the seriousness of the work they were undertaking, 
and for the greater part honestly desirous of doing 
the very best they could to make themselves useful 
on the farms, they saw Frank’s act during the lesson 
on harnessing in a light quite different from that in 
which they would have viewed it before coming to 
Penn State. And, justly or unjustly, the conviction 
gradually grew into belief that Frank Anderson had 
shot a pebble at the horse and that he had done so 
in the hope that the horse would injure Lem. 

Necessarily some of the discussion and talk con- 
cerning the matter came to the ears of Frank’s 
immediate friends and through them to Frank. He 
saw that he had been injudicious and he realized 
that he had hurt himself by his indiscretions. Not 
for one moment, however, did he give up the idea 
of getting even ” with Lem. More than ever he 
was resolved to make this lieutenant regret that he 
had ever dared to oppose Frank Anderson. But he 
realized that he must be more underhanded. He saw 
that whatever he did must be done in such a way 
that it could not be traced to him. For by this time 
Frank’s desire to humiliate Lem had grown into a 
determination to get Lem into serious trouble. 


114 


THE HIDDEN AERIAL 


So the watch set upon Frank proved futile. 
Inasmuch as there was no one of Lem’s friends in 
Anderson’s squad, it was not possible to keep him 
under observation every moment of the day; but 
by dividing the day into watches and giving each of 
his friends a watch, Corporal Jimmy kept such close 
observation on Frank that he knew practically every 
move he made. And he did it without letting Lem 
know what was afoot. Thus the situation got down 
to this: unknown to any but those engaged in it, a 
game of hide-and-seek was going on within the 
company. For Anderson and his crowd were keep- 
ing almost as close a watch on Lem as Lem’s friends 
were on Anderson. Curiously enough, nothing came 
of either vigil. Lem did nothing which Anderson 
could use in discrediting him, and Anderson was 
discovered in nothing which Lem’s friends could 
make use of in exposing him. 

So for a time things went smoothly. There was 
no trouble of any kind in the company. The 
Anderson crowd drilled well, obeyed orders promptly, 
made no attemps to humiliate Lem, and appeared to 
enter into the work with real interest. Lem breathed 
freely again. 

For some reason they’ve quit,” he said to Jimmy 
one day. 

'' Don’t you believe it,” said Jimmy. I know 
that kind too well. They never quit. They’re just 
biding their time.” 


LITTLE PITCHERS HAVE BIG EARS 115 


When several days passed with no more trouble, 
Corporal Jimmy was almost tempted to share 
Lem’s belief. Then something happened that 
confirmed all that he had ever thought or believed 
concerning the treachery of Lem’s arch enemy. 
Oddly enough the discovery was due not at all to 
the watch that was still maintained but was made 
accidentally by little Johnnie Lee. 

Johnnie was more than fond of the movies. He 
never lost a possible chance to attend them. For this 
trip to the training camp his parents had supplied 
him with more than his accustomed amount of 
pocket-money, and almost every night Johnnie went 
down to the town movie theatre. Because he was 
short in stature, Johnnie had formed the habit of 
going early and getting a seat in front, or rather, 
immediately behind the few rows of seats that were 
reserved for children. Every time he attended he 
saw the same group of small boys in these forward 
seats. Johnnie would not have paid any attention 
to them at all had it not been for the fact that they 
seemed so well supplied with money. Their clothes 
did not indicate that they came from homes of 
wealth, yet each boy seemed always to have a 
pocketful of pennies. Johnnie would not have 
known this, of course, had it not been that the lads 
were always counting over their coins. Yet he 
thought little or nothing of the matter until one 
night, while the orchestra was playing, he caught a 


116 


THE HIDDEN AERIAL 


snatch of conversation from these boys, for this 
time they sat immediately in front of him. 

“ How much you got left? said one youngster. 

“ Only ten cents,'' said another. 

‘‘Gee! You can't come to the movies much 
longer," said the first boy. 

“ Pooh ! " said the other boy. “ I'll get some more 
money to-morrow." 

“Goin' to do it again? " asked the other. 

“ Yep." 

“ Goin' to let the rest of us help? " 

“ I don't know," said the other. “ He said I 
musn't get caught. He said he'd lick me if I did. 
You kids ain't slick enough. I think I'll have to do 
it myself." 

The music swelled so loud that Johnnie missed 
what followed immediately, but presently he caught 
this, “ How much do we git out of it? " 

“Nothin'. If I do the job alone, I get all the 
money." 

“ Nix," cried the other out loud. “Nothin' 
doin'. " 

“ Shh 1 " called the manager, rapping for silence. 

The boys quieted down again, but presently 
Johnnie caught this remark, made in an angry tone, 
“ If you don't whack up, we'll tell on you." 

That interested Johnnie. He bent forward and 
cocked his ear, forgetting for the moment the drama 
on the screen before him. 


LITTLE PITCHERS HAVE BIG EARS 117 


“You wouldnT dare/’ said the older of the two 
boys ahead of him. 

“ You try it and you’ll find out quick.” 

“ Then we’d both get into trouble. He said so.” 

“ Don’t care. You’ve got to give me part of the 
money.” 

“ All right,” said the other reluctantly. “ Right 
after they go to work in the morning.” 

“ Whose tent you going to fix this time? ” 

Now Johnnie was all attention. He leaned for- 
ward, scarcely breathing. 

“ We’re going to fix that big stiff Donnelly again.” 

Like a flash of lightning revealing a darkened 
landscape this last remark illuminated all the 
conversation that had gone before. Johnnie saw 
the situation in an instant. His impulse was to 
grab the lads before him and drag them off to camp 
with him. Then he thought better of it. 

“ What Jimmy wants is to get the goods on ’em,” 
he said to himself. “ I’ll find out who they are and 
where they live and then tell Jimmy.” 

He looked them over carefully when the lights 
were turned on during an intermission. Then he 
glanced around for the manager. He saw him stand- 
ing at the rear of the main aisle. Johnnie slipped 
from his seat and quietly walked back to the 
manager. The latter recognized Johnnie as a Work- 
ing Reserve boy he had seen at the theatre almost 
every night. He nodded pleasantly to him. 


118 


THE HIDDEN AERIAL 


“ You^re leaving early to-night/’ he said. “ Don’t 
you like the pictures? ” 

'' Sure/’ said Johnnie, but I’ve got to get back to 
camp. By the way, who are those kids that sat in 
front of me — in the middle of the third row? ” 

The bigger one is Bobbie Jones. The other is 
Sammy Spencer. They are a couple of little toughs 
from up the street here. Did they bother you? I’ve 
had to put them out once or twice. They got so 
noisy.” 

No,” said Johnnie, “ they didn’t bother me, but 
they’re a lively pair. I thought they were going to 
have a fight a little while ago.” 

It wouldn’t be anything new,” was the reply. 

Good night,” said Johnnie. 

“ Good night. Come again.” 

So eager was Johnnie to impart the news of his 
discovery to his comrades, that he could hardly 
refrain from dashing wildly up the street. But he 
thought it wouldn’t look well for a boy in uniform 
to be running along the highway like a school child, 
so he settled to a swift walk. As he hastened along, 
he turned the situation over and over in his mind. 
The farther he went the less rapidly he walked, for 
he was beginning to have doubts as to what he 
should do. He decided to tell his captain instead of 
Jimmy. Then it occurred to him that if either set a 
watch for the boys who had been hired to disarrange 
the tents, they might betray themselves and the boys 


LITTLE PITCHERS HAVE BIG EARS 119 


would then be afraid to disturb things. Then it 
would look as though he were telling an untruth. 
When he reached camp he was still undecided. As 
there was really no hurry about the matter, Johnnie 
decided to go to the Y. M. C. A. and think it over. 
He regretted now that he had not remained at the 
pictures and watched the boys a little longer. He 
might have heard something useful. But it was too 
late now. So he went to the big Y. M. C. A. tent 
and picked out an isolated seat in a corner. There 
he fell into a brown study. 

He was aroused from his preoccupation by the 
genial voice of the Secretary, and looked up to find 
that individual smiling at him. 

You look sort of down in the mouth,’’ said the 
Secretary sympathetically. ^^Is there anything I 
can do for you? ” 

Johnnie looked at him intently for a moment. 
Suddenly he said, There’s a whole lot you can do for 
me and I’ll be thankful to you if you will help me. 
There are some things I want to tell you privately.” 

“ Come to my desk,” said the Secretary. No- 
body can overhear us there.” 

So little Johnnie and the husky secretary were soon 
seated face to face beside the big desk at the rear of 
the tent. Johnnie began at the beginning and told 
his big friend about the formation of the Central 
City unit of the Working Reserve. He told of Lem’s 
poverty and Anderson’s wealth, and of Frank’s 
hatred of Lem and his attempts to humiliate Lem. 


120 


THE HIDDEN AERIAL 


“ I heard some boys talking about some trouble 
with a horse during a harnessing lesson/’ said the 
Secretary. Has that got anything to do with this 
case? ” 

Sure/’ said Johnnie. Then he related the 
incident and how he had seen a pebble fall at the 
same time the horse jumped. The dickens of it 
is,” explained Johnnie, that it got Lem in bad with 
the instructor. The horse accidentally stepped on 
Lem when he was helping me with the harness, and 
the instructor thinks Lem hit the horse to get even. 
But he didn’t. I was there and saw the whole thing. 
He never touched the horse.” 

Then Johnnie told about the tents having been 
disarranged and of the reprimand that had come to 
Lem and Jimmy. 

And they were both working their heads off,” 
said Johnnie, to win the blue ribbon. You just 
don’t know how hard we’ve been trying. Now what 
I want you to do for me is to help us catch these 
kids.” 

Then Johnnie told the Secretary what he had 
overheard at the movies and described the small 
boys. 

Of course I haven’t any proof yet,” said Johnnie, 
but it’s perfectly plain that they must be the 
persons who mussed up our tents. And Anderson 
must have hired them. None of the tents in his 
squad have ever been touched.” 


LITTLE PITCHERS HAVE BIG EARS ni 


‘‘This is serious business/' said the Secretary. 
“ Have you told your captain? " 

“ No/' replied Johnnie. “ If I tell him, he might 
stay in camp and keep watch. Maybe he would 
scare the kids away. Then he'd think I had lied 
to him. You can keep watch from inside your tent 
here, and see what happens. Then you can tell the 
Captain what you saw." 

“ You've got quite a head on you, young man," 
smiled the Secretary, “ and I'll do as you want me to. 
If all you say is true, your friend has had a pretty 
bad deal." 

Little Johnnie flared up like a rocket. “ Do you 
think I'm a liar, too, like Frank Anderson? " he 
demanded indignantly. 

The Secretary laughed. “ I didn't mean my 
remark in the way you took it," he replied. “ Of 
course I don't think you are lying. I know you are 
a loyal friend to your corporal and your lieutenant. 
If injustice is being done, I'm glad to have a chance 
to help right it. You may depend upon me to be 
very watchful and very discreet. And I advise you 
not to say a word to another soul about what you 
overheard." 

“ I won't," assented Johnnie. “ Good night and 
thank you. I am going to be ever so much obliged 
to you." 


CHAPTER XI 


A CATASTROPHE 

H OW grateful he was going to be Johnnie had 
little idea. The end of the training period was 
drawing near. In a few days more the regiment 
would split up into little groups to be sent to as 
many different parts of the state where help was 
needed. As the training period grew toward a close, 
matters also moved toward a crisis for Lem. For 
Anderson had not been idle even though he had ap- 
parently ceased making hostile efforts. Well indeed 
was it that little Johnnie had overheard the talk in 
the movie theatre and acted as he had. But until 
matters came to a climax Johnnie could have no 
idea of just what a service he had performed for 
Lem or how very grateful he was to be to his big 
friend of the Y. M. C. A. 

Meantime the boys were working with a will to 
accomplish the utmost possible before leaving Penn 
State. Forenoon and afternoon daily saw the little 
groups laboring at various tasks in as many different 
parts of the campus or farm. The orchards were 
pruned and sprayed. There were lessons in milking 
122 


A CATASTROPHE 


123 


cows and making butter. Hours were spent study- 
ing the mechanism of farm machinery, in taking 
apart and reassembling various implements, in 
learning how to make simple repairs. Cream- 
separators were studied, axle grease was applied to 
wagon wheels, stumps were dug, concrete was made. 
Indeed, no soldiers in the trenches of Europe worked 
harder than the boys of the Working Reserve did 
in excavating for the foundation of a silo and helping 
to erect that structure of cement. Great fields of 
corn were hoed under the blazing sun. The gardens 
were faithfully cultivated. Fields were plowed. 
Crops were harvested. In short, the boys had a taste 
of every kind of work they were likely to meet with 
on any farm in the state, and they had enough of a 
taste so that they understood the rudiments of 
practically any farm operation. 

As the grass became long enough, hay was made. 
The boys cut the grass with regulation mowing-ma- 
chines, turned it by hand, and with tedders, and 
raked and heaped and hauled it to the barn. They 
used implements both old and new in the work. 
Sometimes they raked the hay with old-fashioned 
one-horse rakes and stacked and loaded it by hand. 
Sometimes they gathered the cured grass with 
modern side-delivery rakes and got it on their wagons 
with self-loaders, the entire outfit being drawn by a 
modern tractor.. Thus they were prepared to help 
either the old-style or the up-to-date haymaker. 


124 


THE HIDDEN AERIAL 


It was clean, wholesome work. It called for energy 
and snap. It was fun to drive the horses. It was 
satisfying to see the loads grow. And when the 
self-loader was employed, the hay came up so fast 
that it kept three or four boys busy to build the load. 
Altogether hay-making was one of the most popular 
studies. 

On the morning following Johnnie’s talk with the 
Y. M. C. A. Secretary, Lem’s half of Company B 
was to make hay. The farm where they were to 
work lay at some little distance from the college 
campus. It was probably the most hilly of all the 
college farms. Mostly the college acres stretched 
in vast level fields that sloped gently, with slight 
depressions and very tiny elevations here and 
there. But this particular farm, being near the 
mountain, contained many fields so rugged in 
contour that persons in one part of the field could 
not see persons in other parts of the same field. 
These little hills and valleys promised to make the 
task of loading the hay more than interesting, for 
on some of the slopes a poorly built load would 
almost certainly topple over. All this was set forth 
by the instructors when the lads reached the field 
after a smart march from camp. 

The grass had been cut two days before by other 
boys. The day previous it had been turned by 
still another group. Now Lem and his two squads 
were to get the cured hay into the barn. The hay 


A CATASTROPHE 


125 


still lay spread out on the ground. The first task, 
therefore, was to rake it into rows so that it could 
be piled into heaps, for in this lesson only the 
older kinds of implements were to be used. The 
horses were already harnessed to the rakes, and at 
once some of the instructors showed their charges 
how to operate the rakes, while others explained 
that each haycock should contain so many rakefuls 
of hay. This would make the cocks of uniform size, 
and space them at suitable distances for the wagons 
to be driven between the rows of cocks. A boy 
walking on either side of a wagon would lift the hay 
aboard, while one or more boys built the load. Load 
building was explained briefly. 

When it was evident that all the boys in the two 
squads understood what was to be done, the different 
tasks were assigned. Several lads were ordered to 
begin raking. Among them was Corporal Worthing- 
ton. Lem was among the number directed to 
follow and heap the hay in cocks. Frank Anderson 
and Roger Branscome were selected to load the hay. 
So there was little chance of any collisions between 
Lem and his enemies, and Lem was glad of it. He 
looked forward to a very pleasant morning, for he 
liked hay-making. 

For a time everything went well. It was not a 
hot day and things went at a brisk clip. The boys 
on the rakes got the rows fairly straight, and the 
lads following with the forks piled the hay into 


126 


THE HIDDEN AERIAL 


cocks at a lively pace. There were enough of them 
to heap the hay about as fast as the lads on the rake 
could collect it. Behind the boys piling the hay 
came the wagon, one lad driving, while the others 
built the load. An instructor rode a short distance 
with them to show just how to place the hay. 

After one load had been hauled to the barn, the 
boys were ordered to change places. The boys 
from the wagons were now set down on the ground 
to fashion the haycocks. Some of the boys who had 
been making cocks were put on the rakes, while some 
of the rakers were transferred to the hay wagon. 
Lem was the last boy to be assigned to a rake. And 
the only rake that had not yet completed its final 
round with the first driver was Corporal Worthing- 
ton’s. He was driving a big horse that walked very 
slowly, and so had fallen behind the others. 

Lieutenant Haskins,” said the instructor in 
charge, you take that rake when it gets in.” He 
pointed to Worthington’s rake, coming slowly across 
the field. 

“ I’ll just go to meet him,” said Lem. ‘‘ There’s 
nothing to rake here.” 

/^All right,” was the reply, and Lem started 
toward Worthington. The latter was still at some 
distance. He drove up over the crest of a little swell, 
dipped down out of sight in a little hollow, and 
arrived at the top of the next crest just before Lem 
did. He saw Lem and understood his coming. 


A CATASTROPHE 


m 


Quickly he turned the horse about, jumped from his 
seat and stepped briskly to the animal’s head. As 
Lem came up, he was buckling the throat-latch. 

This strap came loose,” said he, and I thought 
I would fasten it for you. He’s as slow as mud. 
But maybe if you use this switch you can make him 
move faster.” He handed Lem a little gad. 

Thank you,” said Lem, as he climbed to the seat. 
Then he touched the horse lightly with the stick 
and started down the slope. Worthington dis- 
appeared on the other side of it. 

Now Lem noticed with surprise that the horse he 
was driving was the same one that had been used 
at the lesson on harnessing. Evidently the animal 
had done hard work in the meantime, for now the 
horse was, as Corporal Worthington had said, as 
slow as mud.” The rake, its teeth not yet lowered, 
rolled down-hill so fast the horse had to hold it 
back. The animal moved very deliberately. 

At the foot of the slope Lem clucked to the horse, 
then touched him lightly with the switch. The 
animal pressed forward against his collar. Then he 
gave a leap that nearly tumbled Lem backward from 
the seat, and went tearing up the slope ahead. 

Whoa ! ” cried Lem, pulling hard on the lines. 
“ Whoa, Dobbin ! ” 

But Dobbin did not whoa. Instead, he flew up 
the slope in frantic leaps. 

Whoa! ” shouted Lem, now thoroughly alarmed. 


128 


THE HIDDEN AERIAL 


The horse rushed on, not running evenly, but 
bounding forward in great jumps. Very evidently 
he was frightened, and just as evidently something 
was goading him on. Lem was helpless to manage 
the animal. All he could do was to hold fast to 
the lines and try to keep from being pitched from 
his seat. The animal was entirely beyond control. 
Dobbin tore wildly, frantically on, over hilltops and 
through little valleys. On and on he went. Again 
and again Lem tried to stop him. The lad pulled 
until his arms ached, but the horse had the bit 
in his teeth and paid no heed. Dobbin rushed 
frantically on. 

The field was very large. It was separated from 
the adjoining field by a stout wire fence. Lem 
could not see the wires, but he knew they were there, 
for the posts were plainly visible. The horse tore 
straight for this fence. Lem began to think about 
what he should do. If the horse ran into the wire 
fence, the animal would certainly be thrown and 
probably injured. On the other hand Lem did 
not think he could turn safely at such speed. For 
himself he gave hardly a thought. He was not 
afraid of harm. His whole mind was on the horse 
and how to save him, for Lem knew he could not 
stop him. 

Meantime the runaway had been seen by his 
comrades, and pupils and instructors came running 
after Lem. Indistinctly he heard shouts, and he 


A CATASTROPHE 


129 


supposed that some one was telling him what to do, 
but the hay-rake rattled so that Lem could not make 
out the words. He was practically without experi- 
ence in the handling of horses. He could think of 
no way out of his trouble. If the wire fence had 
not been in the way, Lem would have let the horse 
run straight on until he was tired out. But the 
fence was there, and every second brought Lem 
nearer to it. Something had to be done and done 
quick. Lem decided to make a big circle if he could 
guide the horse. That would avoid the sharp turn 
he dreaded. 

Lem pulled on his left line. In his excitement he 
probably drew the line harder than he meant to 
draw it. The horse responded with a quick turn to 
the left. The rake skidded badly, threw the horse 
off his balance, and horse, rake, and Lem came crash- 
ing to the ground together. For an instant Lem 
was stunned. When he got a grip on himself he 
found that the horse was struggling wildly to get up. 
Dobbin was all tangled up in the harness and the 
broken rake. Lem knew enough to sit on the horse’s 
head, so as to check further struggles, and in this 
position his rescuers found him when they came 
panting up a few moments afterward. 

Corporal Worthington was the first to arrive. He 
had been nearest to Lem when the horses started 
to run. Corporal Donnelly was there quickly. He 
had outrun all the others except Worthington. 


130 


THE HIDDEN AERIAL 


Eventually the entire group came up, including all 
the instructors. Among them was the man in 
charge of the horse, the selfsame instructor that had 
given the lesson in harnessing. With experienced 
eye he glanced over the panting animal. Then he 
ran his hand down one leg. 

Broken,’’ he said. We’ll have to shoot the 
horse.” After he had despatched one of the boys 
for his pistol, he turned to Lem. Very sternly he 
said, How did this happen? ” 

I don’t know, sir,” replied Lem. I hadn’t 
gone more than two hundred feet before the horse 
suddenly began to run. I did my best to stop him 
but could not. I think something frightened him. 
Perhaps a bee stung him.” 

The instructor eyed Lem narrowly. ‘‘You are 
sure you had nothing to do with it? ” 

“ Of course not,” said Lem, astonished and indig- 
nant. “The horse went down the hill at a slow 
walk, then tore up the opposite slope like mad. I 
haven’t an idea what made him do so.” 

“ Who had this animal before Haskins here? ” 

“ I did, sir,” said Corporal Worthington. 

“ Was there anything wrong with him when you 
had him? ” 

“ Absolutely nothing, sir.” 

“ Was the horse excited about anything? ” 

“No, sir.” 

“ And you turned, him over to yoiur successor 
quiet and in good condition? ” 


A CATASTROPHE 


131 


Absolutely/’ 

Can you think of anything that might have 
made the animal run? ” 

Not unless it was the whip, sir. The last time 
I looked at the animal, the Lieutenant was using a 
switch on him.” 

The instructor turned fiercely to Lem. A whip, 
eh?” he snarled. ^‘That explains everything. 
That horse never would stand a whip. Where did 
you get a whip? Why didn’t you tell me you had 
one? But, of course, you wouldn’t. I see it all as 
plain as day. This is the horse you struck at the 
harnessing lesson. You thought you had your 
chance to get even, out here in the hay-field, so 
you whipped Dobbin. I think this will just about 
finish you at State College.” 

In vain Lem tried to stop the instructor. The 
latter had his say, regardless of any interruptions. 
But when he had finished, Lem said, “ It isn’t true 
that I was whipping the horse in the way you think. 
Corporal Worthington said the horse was very slow 
and gave me a little switch. There it is now,” and 
Lem picked up the fallen switch. ‘‘ I hardly more 
than touched the animal with it. Of course, you 
will not believe me, but what I say is true. It 
wouldn’t have hurt a baby to be hit that way.” 

“ Don’t tell any more lies,” said the instructor 
curtly. I’ve heard enough already. You whipped 
the horse. The horse never would take the whip. 


132 


THE HIDDEN AERIAL 


He ran away and here he is. That’s enough. When 
I’ve despatched the horse we’ll finish getting in this 
hay. Then I’ll see that you get what is coming to 
you. Meantime you are suspended from this class. 
Report to your captain at once and tell him so.” 

With a heavy heart Lem walked back across the 
fields to camp. He found his captain already 
returned with his squad. As he entered his 
superior’s tent and saluted, his captain turned a 
black look on him. Before Lem could speak, his 
superior said, ‘^Company B is again in disgrace for 
untidiness. The Colonel called me to account. 
He says our company street is the worst in the camp, 
and your friend Corporal Donnelly is once more the 
principal offender. Even your own tent, sir, would 
not pass inspection. What have you to say for 
yourself? ” 

With regard to the disorder, only this : Things 
were in perfect order when we marched away. With 
regard to other matters, I am ordered to report that 
I am suspended from the haying class. A horse 
ran away with me and broke his leg, sir. The 
instructor will tell you about it when he comes.” 

Go to your tent,” said the Captain angrily, 
and stay there until I send for you.” 


CHAPTER XII 


A DARK OUTLOOK 

W ITH his face buried in his hands, Lem sat on 
his cot in his tent the picture of despair. He 
was terribly depressed. Had he been younger he 
would have wept. He wanted to do so now, but 
pride prevented him. Bitterly he thought over the 
experiences of the past two weeks. To do his duty 
for his country, as he saw it, he had given up the job 
that was to bring him the money he so much needed 
and wanted, and that his mother needed. He knew 
that not a boy in his company had made any sacri- 
fice comparable with that in connection with the 
work now in hand. Further to do his duty as he saw 
it, he had urged the recruiting of the Central City 
unit. Thereby he had incurred the hostility of Frank 
Anderson. He could as logically have refused to at- 
tempt the work as some men with families could 
plead exemption from military duty. Nor had it 
been necessary for him to try to recruit a band of 
volunteers for the work. He could have come alone, 
without mentioning the matter to others. But Lem’s 

13S 


1S4 


THE HIDDEN AERIAL 


sense of duty had permitted him to follow neither 
course. It had seemed to him the food ought to be 
raised and that it would require as many hands to 
raise it as could possibly be gotten together. In 
doing what he had, he had merely done his duty. 
And this was the result. 

He was disgraced. He was more than disgraced. 
He was hurt; he was injured. He would go back 
home under a cloud. People would no longer think 
well of him. No one would want to employ him. 
All that he had accomplished in three or four years 
of earnest eiBfort seemed to be wiped out at one stroke. 
He had won the confidence and trust of the people 
of Central City. He was well thought of. Now he 
would drop back into that terrible state from which 
he had climbed with such difficulty. Indeed, to Lem 
it seemed as though his entire future were ruined, his 
chances of success destroyed — and all through no 
fault of his own. If ever misfortune singled out an 
individual for a victim, surely, Lem thought, it had 
selected him. So he sat on his cot, dejected, brood- 
ing over his trouble, too crushed in spirit to make 
any attempt even to appear cheerful. 

But he was not allowed to remain in misery for a 
very long time. Ill news travels fast; and long be- 
fore Lem’s half of B Company got back, it was known 
throughout the camp that Lem had killed a horse 
and was in trouble. Corporal Russell, having re- 
turned with the Captain’s half of the company, was 


A DARK OUTLOOK 


135 


in the Y. M. C. A. tent writing a letter when he heard 
the news. Without a moment’s hesitation he folded 
up his letter and started for Lem’s tent. There he 
found Lem sitting, his face still buried in his hands, 
sunk in despair. 

Brace up, Lem,” said Corporal Russell, entering 
the tent and slapping his comrade on the shoulder. 

I just heard the news. Tell me how it happened. 
And for heaven’s sake, don’t look like that. It will 
come out all right in the end.” 

Lem straightened up and looked at his friend with 
dull eyes. “ Charley,” he said, It was good of you 
to come to me. I seem to have the toughest luck in 
the world. This is the worst thing I’ve ever done. 
And it wasn’t through any fault of mine, either.” 

Tell me about it, Lem.” 

Lieutenant Haskins related the entire story. 

‘‘You say you didn’t hit the horse hard?” asked 
Charley. 

“ Hardly more than laid the switch on him, merely 
tapped him with it.” 

I know that horse well, Lem. He didn’t like to 
be lashed with a whip, I know, but I don’t believe he 
would have acted that way just on account of a little 
tap with a gad. Are you sure the horse leaped 
immediately after you touched him? ” 

Now that you mention it, Charley, it does seem 
to me that the animal didn’t begin to run until a 
moment or so after I touched him. But the interval 


136 


THE HIDDEN AERIAL 


was very short. However, I feel sure that the horse 
did not leap forward immediately.’’ 

Most likely the whip had absolutely nothing to 
do with the matter. Can you think of any reason 
why the horse would run so? ” 

Do you think a bee could have stung him? ” 
That’s possible. Did you see any bees? ” 

Not a single one.” 

Then I don’t believe it could have been bees. If 
a swarm had flown after the horse and kept stinging 
him, that would explain why you couldn’t stop the 
animal. But if only one bee stung him, the horse 
certainly would have stopped in a few rods. It looks 
to me as though something must have hurt him and 
kept hurting him to make the horse continue to run 
so. Tell me the whole story again, Lem, and don’t 
forget anything.” 

Lem did as requested, setting forth his story in 
minute detail. 

You say,” said Charley, when Lem had finished, 
that when Corporal Worthington saw you coming, 
he turned the rake around and drove back a little 
way into the hollow? ” 

Exactly.” 

Could you see him all the time? ” 

Why, no,” answered Lem. He was out of sight 
for a minute or so.” 

And he was buckling the throat-latch when you 
reached him? ” 


A DARK OUTLOOK 


137 


Just so” 

'“Hroinin ! ” said Charley. I’m going out to take 
a look at that harness right away. Now buck up, 
Lem, and don’t give the Anderson crowd a chance to 
crow over you. Keep a stiff upper lip and put on a 
front. Good-by.” 

Charley struck out for the hay-field. He had hardly 
more than left the camp when he saw the little 
group of Reserve Boys marching back from the farm 
he was headed for. 

^‘It will be just as well if they don’t see me,” 
thought Charley, and he turned aside and made a 
detour through the campus. 

The instructor, who had shot the horse, was with 
the little troop. He went at once to the Captain of 
B Company and the two straightway stepped to 
the Colonel’s tent. There the instructor told his 
story. 

This is a bad business,” commented Colonel Den- 
nis. The horse is dead, you say, and there is no 
doubt that Lieutenant Haskins is to blame for 
it?” 

Absolutely none,” replied the instructor. He 
had a spite against the horse. The day his section 
had a lesson in harnessing, this horse accidentally 
stepped on the Lieutenant’s foot. That made him 
mad. Later, when I wasn’t looking, he struck the 
horse, and it’s only a mercy of heaven that somebody 
wasn’t kiUed. That horse never would stand for be- 


138 


THE HIDDEN AERIAL 


ing hit. To-day he thought he would get even with 
the horse and whipped Dobbin as soon as he got on 
the rake.’^ 

Does he admit all this? 

No. He lies about it. He says he didn’t strike 
the horse at the harnessing lesson and that he only 
touched it to-day with a little switch. But I know 
better.” 

Colonel Dennis looked keenly at the man, whose 
face was red with anger. Can you prove that he 
struck the horse the day of the harnessing lesson? 
Did any one see him hit the animal? With nearly 
a score of boys looking on, somebody would have seen 
him if he struck the horse.” 

^‘Oh! We can find somebody who saw him all 
right enough,” answered the man. 

You can find some one? ” said the Colonel 
sharply. Do you mean that you charge the boy 
with an act that as yet you have no witnesses to 
prove? ” 

It wasn’t necessary to have any witnesses. I 
know well enough that he did it. Something hit the 
horse and he was the only one near enough to do it. 
Besides he had it in for the animal.” 

Be sure you get your proof, then,” said the Col- 
onel. This is a serious matter. If the lad is guilty 
of the offenses you charge him with, he shall cer- 
tainly receive punishment. At the same time we must 
be careful to see that justice is done. We cannot 


A DARK OUTLOOK 


139 


punish anybody on supposition or hearsay. Get 
your evidence ready and wedl bring him to trial.” 

The instructor passed out, a gleam of satisfaction 
in his eye. 

The Colonel turned to the Captain of Company B. 
“ Urn free to confess,” he said, that I’m disappointed 
in this lad Haskins. I chose him for the lieutenancy 
because I was impressed with some things I saw as 
I watched him in the armory. But apparently I 
have been fooled. He seemed to do very well for a 
time, but of late I get none but unfavorable reports 
about him. And to-day his own tent would not pass 
inspection. In plain words, it looks as though I 
had picked a lemon for you.” 

I don’t know. Colonel,” said the Captain. “ The 
boy is a great puzzle to me. He works his head off 
at drill and is very faithful in his farm work. He 
seems to have good ideas, self-control, and real abil- 
ity. Some of the men in the company seem to like 
him immensely. Others apparently dislike him just 
as heartily. But I have never seen him do anything 
to warrant their dislike. Frankly, he’s a puzzle to 
me. But if he has been doing these things at his 
farm lessons, the sooner we get rid of him the better.” 

Exactly. We’ll put him on trial at once.” 


CHAPTER XIII 


MURDER WILL OUT 

T he next thing Lem knew he was facing a court- 
martial. The Y. M. C. A. tent had been chosen 
for the trial, and for the time being every one except 
those concerned in the trial was excluded from the 
tent. The matter created a great stir in camp. Ev- 
erybody knew about the killing of the horse, and the 
entire regiment was discussing the situation. No 
one believed that Lem had intended to cause the 
death of the animal. If he had intended to do so, 
he would never have started a runaway in which he 
might have been injured himself. But many did 
think that he had whipped the horse out of spite, for 
the Anderson crowd had seen to it that this story 
went abroad with many unjust insinuations. The 
regiment was no different from the rest of humanity. 
It contained many individuals who were ready to 
believe the worst of any one. But Lem^s own friends 
had been busy, too, and had won many supporters 
for Lem. Thus the entire camp was interested in the 
matter, some wishing Lem well and some hoping ill 
for him. 


140 


MURDER WILL OUT 


141 


The commanding officers of the regiment, who 
formed the court, were fortunately not prejudiced 
either way. Excepting his own captain, few of the 
company commanders had seen much of Lem. What 
they had observed at drill was in his favor. But not 
one of them looked on him now, as he faced the tri- 
bunal, without being attracted to him. Entering 
the tent in absolute innocence, confident that no fair- 
minded judges could possibly pronounce him guilty 
of acts he had not committed, Lem stood erect and 
straight before the men who were to judge him, 
looking them squarely in the eyes, his bearing be- 
speaking a quiet trust. Yet he appeared to take the 
matter with proper seriousness. There was no at- 
tempt on his part to pretend a lightness he did not 
feel, or to seem indifferent. Not a man in the court 
looked at Lem without somehow feeling that the 
lad before him was innocent. 

Yet appearances were decidedly against Lem. The 
instructor was the first witness. He first told of the 
lesson in harnessing, and how he thought Lem had 
hit the horse, but he was not able to produce any 
witness who had seen Lem strike the animal. Then 
he told what he had seen of the runaway, which 
really was not much. 

The principal witness was Corporal Worthington. 
He was ordered to tell exactly what happened at the 
time he delivered the horse to Lem. 

As I was driving on my last round,’^ he said, I 


142 


THE HIDDEN AERIAL 


saw the Lieutenant coming and I knew that he must 
have been ordered to take his turn at the rake. As 
he was my superior officer I turned the rake around, 
to head it in the right direction. Then I noticed the 
horse's throat-latch was loose. I hopped off and 
buckled it. The Lieutenant got on the rake, picked 
up the lines and a switch, and started off. When he 
reached the bottom of the hollow, where he was out 
of sight, he hit the horse with his whip. The animal 
gave a jump and tore up the slope on the other side 
of the hollow. The Lieutenant couldn’t stop the 
horse, which fell down when he tried to turn.” 

You say the defendant hit the horse when he 
was out of sight,” said a member of the Court. 
How could you see him if he was out of sight? ” 

“ I mean he was out of sight of everybody but me. 
And he would have been out of my sight if I hadn’t 
stopped a moment to watch him. He probably 
thought I was out of sight, too.” 

You have told us everything, have you? ” asked 
another member of the Court. The Lieutenant 
didn’t do anything to the horse that you saw? ” 

Not a thing. He climbed to the seat as soon as 
he reached the rake, picked up the lines and whip, 
and started off.” 

“ How many times did he strike the horse? ” 

‘‘ Only once, sir. The animal never gave him a 
chance for another blow. Dobbin ran like a fright- 
ened deer.” 


MURDER WILL OUT 


143 


The witness was dismissed. Lem was called upon 
to testify. He told a plain, straightforward story 
that was very similar to Corporal Worthington^s. 

^^Then you admit striking the horse, do you?^^ 
asked one of the Judges. 

do, sir,^’ answered Lem, ^^but I think 'strike^ 
is hardly the right word. I hardly more than touched 
the horse. Besides I had nothing but a tiny switch. 

''Never mind about the size of the switch. You 
struck the horse. The animal ran away. He fell and 
broke a leg. Now the horse is dead/^ said the head 
of the Court. "The case seems to be complete. 
There is no need of further evidence.’^ 

The Judges conferred a moment. Then the head 
of the Court said, "We find you guilty of causing the 
death of the horse as charged. What you have done 
is not a crime and no civil action can lodge against 
you. But you are guilty of conduct not becoming an 
officer. Any person who would try to be revenged 
on a dumb brute because the animal had accidentally 
hurt him, is not worthy to be an officer in the United 
States Boys’ Working Reserve. I am not certain 
that he is even fit to be a member of the Boys’ Work- 
ing Reserve. Although you are not amenable to civil 
law, we can and shall punish you under our own 
military law. Have you anything to say before sen- ^ 
tence is pronounced?” 

Lem arose and faced the Court. He had paled 
perceptibly. His face showed both perplexity and 


THE HIDDEN AERIAL 


141 

anxiety. But before he could say a word the Secre- 
tary of the Y. M. C. A. came hustling into the tent, 
closely followed by Corporal Russell. 

I beg your pardon for interrupting,’^ said the 
big secretary to the Court, but I have some evi- 
dence in this case that I should like to present.” 

The head of the Court motioned for Lem to be 
seated. “ Present your evidence,” he said to the 
Secretary. 

The latter turned and called Corporal Russell to 
the stand. He was sworn as a witness and told to 
relate his story. 

‘^That horse never ran away because he was hit 
with a switch,” he said indignantly. He bolted be- 
cause these were sticking in his shoulders,” and he 
held out a number of bloody sand-burs. 

What do you mean? Where did you get them? ” 
asked the astonished Judges. 

I got them from under the dead horse’s collar. 
Those burs were put under Dobbin’s collar to make 
him run away. The fellow who put them there sits 
in that chair.” The witness turned and pointed 
directly to Corporal Worthington. 

The accused lad turned as white as chalk. He 
tried to reply, but could make no sound. 

What evidence have you got that he did this? ” 
asked the head of the Court. 

Evidence? The horse himself is the best wit- 
ness. Any horse would have run away with those 


MURDER WILL OUT 


145 


things sticking in his shoulders. But this horse 
walked along so slowly when Corporal Worthington 
drove it that he got behind the rest of the rakes. 
When Worthington saw Lieutenant Haskins coming 
toward him, he turned the rake around, drove down 
into the hollow out of sight, and put those burs un- 
der the collar. When the Lieutenant reached him, 
he was buckling a strap on the bridle as a bluff. The 
Lieutenant got in the seat and picked up the lines. 
Worthington gave him a switch. He advised the 
Lieutenant to switch the horse because the animal 
went so slow. He meant to have Dobbin jump ahead 
as a whipped horse does, so the burs would stick into 
the shoulders and make him run away. The rake 
rolled down-hill itself and there was no pressure on 
the collar. But the minute the horse started up the 
other side, the burs stuck him and the horse ran 
away. It was the burs, sir, and not the switching 
that caused the trouble.’’ 

The judges were leaning forward in breathless at- 
tention. ^'What proof have you of this?” they de- 
manded. 

Proof? ” said Corporal Russell. “ What more 
proof do you want? I found these burs in the dead 
horse’s shoulders. They weren’t there when Worth- 
ington was driving or the horse would have run away 
with him. They were there when Lieutenant Has- 
kins started to drive. Hence they got there between 
the time Corporal Worthington left the rake and the 


146 


THE HIDDEN AERIAL 


time Lieutenant Haskins got on it. Corporal Worth- 
ington put them there while he was pretending to 
buckle the throat-latch. If you want any more proof, 
look at the culprit.’^ 

Corporal Worthington sat with a face like a sheet, 
his eyes on the floor, visibly trembling. 

^^Corporal Worthington,’^ said the chief Judge 
sternly, ^fls this charge true? Did you put these 
burs under the horse’s collar?” 

Corporal Worthington got to his feet. Twice he 
tried to speak and failed. Then ^ lieutenant Has- 
kins put the burs there himself,” he said, faintly. 

^^You have already sworn,” replied one of the 
Judges icily, ^That after Lieutenant Haskins reached 
the rake, he at once got into the seat, picked up the 
reins, and started the horse. Were you lying then or 
are you lying now?” 

Corporal Worthington stood open-mouthed and 
tongue-tied. His confusion was pitiful. 

suggest that his pockets be examined,” said the 
big secretary. ^^He didn’t pick those burs up where 
he stopped the rake, for there weren’t any there. If 
he put them under the collar, he must have had them 
in his pocket. If he did, some of them would be al- 
most sure to stick fast.” 

'^Search him,” commanded the Court. 

Attendants felt in Worthington’s pockets. 

'^Ouch!” exclaimed one of them, and drew forth 
his hand with two sand-burs clinging to a finger. 


MURDER WILL OUT 


147 


^‘Exactly what I expected/’ said the Secretary, 
guess we hardly need any more proof.” Then 
directly addressing the culprit, he said: ^^Worthing- 
ton, I want you to confess that you put those burs 
under the horse’s collar. There are more things we 
know about you that I am going to tell to the Court. 
Before I go on, I give you this chance to own your 
guilt. It will go easier with you if you tell the truth.” 

Worthington turned toward the Court, but his 
glance never lifted from the floor. did it,” he 
said weakly. 

‘^Where did you get those burs?” asked the Court. 

^Tn a field about two miles up the valley.” 

“How could you? You were busy with your hay- 
making every minute.” 

“I got them on Sunday. The Captain took us for 
a hike there.” 

“It’s a fact,” said the Captain of Company B, 
“and I remember noticing sand-burs there.” 

“WTiat! Did you get those burs on Sunday and 
bring them back with you expressly for this pur- 
pose?” demanded one of the Judges. 

Worthington hesitated. 

“Tell the truth,” admonished the Judge. 

^<I — I — I thought I might want them for some- 
thing of the sort.” 

“Well you are a villain,” commented the Judge. 
“That’s malice aforethought, beyond question.” 

“That isn’t all,” said the Y. M. C. A. Secretary. 


148 


THE HIDDEN AERIAL 


‘^It seems that Lieutenant Haskins and Corporal 
Donnelly, who have several times been reprimanded 
for the condition of B Company street, have been 
making a special effort to win the blue ribbon for 
orderliness/’ 

Both the Colonel and the Captain of B Company 
looked their astonishment. 

It now appears,” continued the Secretary, that 
their tents have been disarranged and the company 
street littered up after they were put in order. Please 
call Johnnie Lee. He’s waiting outside.” 

Johnnie was ushered in. He told what he had over- 
heard at the movie show and what he had done. 
When Johnnie had finished, the Secretary went on: 

So this morning I watched. After all of you had 
marched off to work, and before the inspection was 
made, I saw several small ragamuffins who pretended 
to be playing catch. They threw their ball so it 
rolled into B Company street. They ran after it and 
on through the street. As they went, they littered 
the street with bits of paper from their pockets and 
disarranged several tents, paying particular atten- 
tion to Corporal Donnelly’s. Then they raced on to 
the parade-ground. Believing that they had not 
been seen, they stopped there to play ball. I knew 
the youngsters and after a while I asked them to 
come to my tent. Here I got the whole story from 
them. They’ve been doing this sort of thing right 
along. They got a dollar apiece every time they did 
it. That is the man who hired them.” 


MURDER WILL OUT 


149 


The Secretary pointed to Worthington. Then he 
and the chief Judge withdrew to a corner of the tent, 
where the Secretary laid bare all that he had learned 
concerning conditions in Company B. 

The Judge returned to his seat and conferred with 
his colleagues. Then he said : Lieutenant Has- 

kins, you are not only honorably discharged, but you 
have the hearty commendation of this Court. Your 
conduct has been above reproach. To your soldierly 
qualities, which have never been in doubt, you 
seem to add an unusual sense of honor and justice. 
For it now appears that you have really been perse- 
cuted by certain members of your company. Yet 
you have borne yourself with dignity and remark- 
able self-restraint. I congratulate you, sir, upon the 
record you have made.’^ 

Lem saluted the Judge. I thank you, sir,” he said, 
and would have added more, but a great lump arose 
in his throat and his eyes went misty. His heart was 
beating wildly with sheer joy. He was not merely 
vindicated. He had heard the words he had labored 
so steadfastly to win: Well done, good and faith- 
ful servant.” 

The trial, however, was not yet concluded. Cor- 
poral Worthington’s case had now to be disposed of. 
The members of the Court conferred about it for a 
moment. Then the culprit was ordered to stand. 

Corporal Worthington arose, with sagging shoul- 
ders and downcast eyes. 


150 


THE HroDEN AERLVL 


^^Young man, said the head of the Court, 
your own admission you are guilty of one of the 
greatest wrongs a human being can commit against 
another. You have not only lied about your supe- 
rior officer, but you have deliberately schemed to get 
him into trouble. Had it not been for the timely 
assistance of his friends and the Secretary here, 
Lieutenant Haskins would at the very least have 
been stripped of his office and disgraced. But the 
offense charged against him was as nothing compared 
to the crime of which you have been guilty. If de- 
motion was a fair punishment for the thing we 
thought Lieutenant Haskins did, the very least that 
can be done to you is to expel you from the Boys’ 
Working Reserve. Actually we ought to put you in 
the hands of the civil law, to which you are amen- 
able, for you, sir, have committed a crime.” 

With supreme satisfaction Lem listened as the 
Judge continued to upbraid Worthington. A great 
anger had taken possession of Lem’s heart at the 
revelation of his subordinate’s treachery. But as 
the Judge went on talking, pouring out words that 
cut and burned and scorched, Lem began to feel 
sorry for the lad who had wronged him. No matter 
how bad the offense had been, it seemed to Lem, the 
punishment was almost more than any one should 
be compelled to bear. Then he thought of the day, 
years before, when at Camp Brady he had stood 
accused of a misdeed that might have resulted in the 


MURDER WILL OUT 


151 


death of a comrade. He recalled how hurt he had 
been at Captain Hardy’s harsh words. He recalled 
how well he merited the reproof. And he also re- 
membered how his Captain, instead of expelling him 
from the camp as he could very properly have done, 
had given him another chance and had encouraged 
him in the efforts that had made him what he now 
was. He saw that his case had been similar to that 
of Corporal Worthington’s, except for the fact that 
his own misdeed had been due to carelessness, 
whereas W orthington’s was due to studied effort. Still 
the situation was much the same. All that Lem was or 
hoped to be, he felt he should owe to his Captain for 
his leniency and help. Here, it seemed to Lem, was 
an opportunity to do as he had been done by. He 
might help to make a new man of his corporal, even 
as his captain had made a new man of him. He re- 
solved to intercede for Worthington. He came out 
of his preoccupation barely in the nick of time. Al- 
ready the Judge was saying, “ It is the sentence of 
this Court that you be — ” 

I beg your pardon,” said Lem, springing to his 
feet, but may I say a word before sentence is pro- 
nounced?” 

Speak up,” said the Court. 

Then, sir, I ask you to be merciful. I do not be- 
lieve Corporal Worthington is entirely at fault. I 
think, sir, he is merely the tool of others. Some of 
the boys from my own town do not like me, sir, 


152 


THE HIDDEN AERIAL 


though I have given them no proper cause for this 
dislike. I believe they are at the bottom of this 
thing. At any rate, I am certain they are responsible 
for Corporal Worthington’s feeling toward me. I ask 
you, therefore, to be merciful and to give Corporal 
Worthington another chance.” 

‘^You show a very fine spirit. Lieutenant Has- 
kins,” said the Judge. “The Court will consider 
your plea.” Then turning to Corporal Worthing- 
ton, the Judge said gravely, “What about this? Is 
it true that you are the tool of other persons, or are 
you entirely to blame for what has happened? ” 

Corporal Worthington hesitated. “I — I — I did 
it myself,” he finally said, but no one in the tent be- 
lieved him. 

The lines about the Judge’s mouth hardened. 
“ Then, sir,” he said, severely, “ you must take the 
responsibility. The Court had intended to expel 
you from the Boys’ Working Reserve, and to send 
you home in disgrace. In view of your superior offi- 
cer’s plea, and our belief, despite your testimony, 
that you are not altogether responsible, the Court 
will temper justice with mercy. You may continue 
in the Reserve, but you are reduced to the ranks. 
Attendant, remove the chevrons from the culprit’s 
arms.” 


CHAPTER XIV 


ANOTHER CLOUD ON THE HORIZON 

rriHE news of the trial and its unexpected outcome 
^ set the training camp to buzzing like a beehive. 
Everybody in camp knew, of course, of the Ander- 
son crowd’s attempt to humiliate Lem at the Y. M. 
C. A. on the occasion of Tom Sheppard’s interference. 
The outcome of the trial merely strengthened and 
deepened the feeling that had come to most of the 
boys in the regiment at that time. Their admiration 
and liking for Lem increased greatly. Their dislike 
of Anderson and his followers now not only increased, 
but took on an active form. 

Previously most of them had been content to dis- 
like Anderson passively. Now the boys began to 
show their dislike openly. They shunned the An- 
derson crew in a way that, while not quite so cutting 
as was Anderson’s treatment of Lem at the Y. M. C. 
A. had been, was nevertheless very telling. Some 
even went further and improved every opportunity 
to say harsh things within earshot of Anderson or 
his friends. The regiment contained many lads like 
Tom Sheppard, so out-and-out honest themselves 

153 


154 


THE HIDDEN AERIAL 


that they hated treachery worse than they would 
have hated a poisonous snake. And these lads now 
expressed their opinions bluntly and without reser- 
vation. Thus, in a twinkling, the situation was en- 
tirely reversed. The biter was bitten; and the An- 
derson crowd found themselves in exactly the posi- 
tion they had schemed to put Lem in — detested 
and practically ostracized. 

For though nothing had been proved against any 
one except Worthington, nobody doubted for a mo- 
ment that Frank Anderson was the moving spirit in 
the plot against Lem, even if he did not actually 
think up and perform the deeds that had been un- 
covered. He had more money to spend, very evi- 
dently, than any other boy in the regiment; while 
Corporal Worthington was quite as evidently without 
funds. And Anderson’s influence over Worthington 
was so marked that the latter had become in very 
truth a real satellite. 

The effect of the trial on Lem’s fortunes, on the 
other hand, was more than gratifying to the Lieu- 
tenant of Company B. In fact, he was almost em- 
barrassed by the change in his fellows. He became 
the hero of the camp. The story of his quiet endur- 
ance of persecution, of his self-restraint, of his fair- 
ness toward those who had been trying to injure him, 
now became known in detail. There was not a fair- 
minded lad in the regiment who did not admire Lem 
in consequence. This admiration was pleasing to 


ANOTHER CLOUD ON THE HORIZON 155 


Lem, of course; but more than the admiration he 
valued the deep and genuine respect that went with 
it. The regiment valued Lem, not so much for some 
deed he had done, as for what he was. This Lem 
felt and understood, and it brought to him a deeper 
satisfaction and a greater happiness than he had ever 
known before. For Lem understood that any one, 
under the spur of momentary influences, might per- 
form a meritorious deed ; but that no one could pos- 
sess fineness of character without constant struggle 
toward that end. 

Many a lad would have been spoiled by the atten- 
tion that now came to Lem. But he had been 
through so much trouble himself, he had struggled 
so long to overcome his own weaknesses and to build 
up the strength of character that underlay all he had 
done, that he was very sane in his judgment. Once 
he had heard a workman remark, A man who never 
makes mistakes, never makes anything else.^’ He 
tried to bear in mind the fact that his own successes 
were built upon his own failures. And remembering 
that, he was charitable to Worthington. 

He was so charitable, in fact, that many of his fel- 
lows could not understand him. Resentful as he 
felt at Worthington’s treachery, ofiicially he contin- 
ued to treat him as he treated every other subordi- 
nate. And when he saw how Worthington was being 
punished for his wrong, he began to feel sorry for 
him. He had pleaded with the Court in Worthing- 


,156 


THE HIDDEN AERIAL 


ton’s behalf. He thought that the least Worthing- 
ton could do was to come to him now and express his 
contrition and his appreciation of Lem’s attitude. 
So he waited awhile for Worthington to come. But 
Worthington made no advances. Lem was deter- 
mined, if possible, to put an end to the hostility 
Worthington and his fellows cherished toward him. 
So one day he decided to take the matter into his 
own hands and go direct to his former corporal. 

He found him with Frank Anderson in the latter’s 
tent. Without waiting for them to speak, Lem en- 
tered the tent and said, I came to see if you fellows 
won’t make up with me. If I am willing to let by- 
gones be bygones, you ought to be. There isn’t any 
sense in fighting among ourselves when we have the 
whole German nation to fight. We’ve got to produce 
every ounce of food that can be raised, and we can’t 
do that unless we all pull together. We came here 
for a patriotic purpose. For the sake of that purpose, 
won’t you call it quits, shake hands with me, and for- 
get what has happened? ” 

A look almost of friendliness crept over Worthing- 
ton’s face. He had suffered severely in consequence 
of the altered attitude of his fellows toward him. At 
heart he was not vicious. He was merely weak and 
had fallen completely under the influence of a more 
powerful nature. He had thought long over what 
had occurred. When he was away from Anderson he 
saw himself in a light that was almost truthful. In 


ANOTHER CLOUD ON THE HORIZON 157 


those moments he felt sorry for what he had done. 
Also he was fair enough to recognize that Lem had 
acted with remarkable charity toward himself. In 
these lucid intervals he appreciated Lem’s interces- 
sion in his behalf. Had Lem talked to Worthington 
alone, the chances are that the latter would have 
asked Lem’s forgiveness, shaken hands with him, and 
faced about entirely. He seemed almost ready to 
do so now. But before Worthington could express 
what was in his mind, Anderson replied to Lem’s 
greeting. His face was ugly to see. A hideous sneer 
distorted his lips. 

“Shake hands with youV^ he said with all the 
venom in his nature. “I’d sooner be hanged.” 
Then, with an oath, he added, “ You needn’t think 
you can come here and crow over us just because 
you came out ahead this time. I told you once be- 
fore that the fellow who laughs last laughs best. 
There’s plenty of time for another laugh. We’ll get 
you yet, blast you ! ” 

The friendly look disappeared from Worthington’s 
face as he listened to his leader. In its place came a 
scowl. He turned his back on Lem. 

The latter was plainly disappointed. “ Anderson,” 
he said, a sterner note creeping into his voice, “ you 
know very well that you have no reason to hate me. 
I have never done anything to you. I have never 
tried to hurt you. I have tried to treat you fairly. 
Do you really think I wanted to come here now and 


158 


THE HIDDEN AERIAL 


risk being turned down? I did it because I place my 
country’s needs above my own feelings. I thought 
you were man enough to do the same thing. It 
seems I am mistaken. I am sorry.” 

He turned and walked slowly back to his own tent. 
The glow that had come from his effort at self-mas- 
tery faded from his heart. The rosy hue that had 
tinted his thought of the immediate future vanished. 
That future still possessed unpleasant possibilities 
and Lem had to recognize that fact. Never before 
had he gone through an experience like that of the 
past fortnight. Other boys had disliked him. Other 
boys had said mean things about him. But never 
before had anybody attempted really to harm him. 
If Anderson or Worthington had succeeded in their 
plot, Lem would have been disgraced. That was all. 
But Lem now understood that Anderson would go 
to any lengths to get him into trouble and that such 
trouble might be a very real difficulty. He saw that 
Anderson would fasten on him, if he could, a deed 
that might wreck his entire life, that might even 
send him to a penitentiary. He believed that An- 
derson would even be willing to see him hanged, 
though innocent of any crime. And what was worse, 
he felt sure that Anderson would be capable of plot- 
ting to fasten some serious crime on him. He under- 
stood now that his enemy was without scruple, con- 
scienceless, remorseless. Moreover, Anderson had 
wealth and influence, while he himself was poor and 


ANOTHER CLOUD ON THE HORIZON 150 


almost friendless. No wonder that Lem’s face paled 
a bit as he considered the future. 

Then succeeded a tightening of the jaws and a 
look of determination, while the light of real courage 
shone in his eyes. A mind reader could have told 
that he had determined to do what was right, no 
matter whom he offended or what the possible conse- 
quences to himself. 

But presently the sternness of his countenance was 
lightened by a look of relief. A smile stole over his 
face. Here I am,” he muttered to himself, “ cross- 
ing a bridge before I get to it. In fact, I am cross- 
ing a bridge that doesn’t exist. The training camp 
will end in a day or two. The regiment will break up 
into small units and be scattered all over the state. 
I probably shall not see Frank Anderson again all 
summer.” 

So he went his way smiling. But two days later 
the smile faded from his lips. An announcement was 
posted, telling where the different squads were to go 
to work. His immediate squad was assigned to a 
Liberty Camp in his own section of the state, and this 
camp of twenty-four boys included every lad from 
Central City. 


CHAPTER XV 


THE LIBERTY CAMP 

Y the time the training camp was ended and the 
^ young soldiers of the soil were ready for work on 
the farms, the summer was well advanced. In groups 
large and small, and as individual workers, these 
patriotic youths were sent to many different parts of 
the state. Those who went as individuals, lived with 
the farmers they assisted, becoming for the time be- 
ing members of their families. But those who went 
out in large groups were quartered in camps. 

The Liberty Camp to which the Central City con- 
tingent was assigned was to be in charge of Mr. 
Howard Granby. He was a senior at State College, 
who had been rejected as an army volunteer because 
of defective vision. His eyesight, however, was the 
only thing about him that was below par. He was 
tall, broad-shouldered, strong as Atlas. He was one 
of the foremost athletes in his college. He could 
run like a deer. He held medals as a jumper. He 
was a football player of reputation. Mentally he 
was keen and alert. Futhermore, he had been a farm 
boy, and so was entirely familiar with the duties that 


THE LIBERTY CAMP 


161 


lay ahead of these youthful soldiers of the soil. But 
Mr. Granby’s most valuable characteristic was his 
magnetism. His winning smile, his deep, penetrat- 
ing voice, his virile presence, all combined to draw 
others to him. In no time, the leader of the camp 
was also its idol. 

The district to which this particular group of 
young farmers had been sent was in a hilly region 
along the Susquehanna River. A thousand feet wide, 
this noble stream here swept through a tract of rich 
farming lands that sloped gently back to rounded 
foothills, behind which towered loftier ranges of 
mountains. Just beyond these mountains Central 
City was located. Here and there streams came 
down from the mountains, pushed their way between 
the intervening foothills, and meandered through 
the open farming lands to the big river. Near the 
centre of the district in which the Liberty boys were 
to work, such a creek came rushing down from the 
hills, gathering volume as each little tributary 
poured into it until, where it crossed the agricultural 
plain, it was a noble little stream. The water at its 
mouth, backed up by the water of the great river, lay 
deep and peaceful and smooth as a mirror. High 
banks and overarching trees shut out both sun and 
wind from this pleasant little estuary. 

Just before it emerged from the hills, this stream 
had been dammed to provide water power for a near- 
by mill. Thus a second sheet of deep, smooth water 


162 


THE HIDDEN AERIAL 


was formed. On either hand the hills rose sharply. 
But between the water and the hillside there was, on 
the right bank, a wide strip of grassy land, lightly 
shaded by tall, broad spreading elms. Save for the 
fact that no good drinking water was immediately at 
hand, the spot was ideal for a camp. The tall trees 
afforded just enough shade. Yet the breeze could 
blow uninterruptedly beneath them. The grass had 
been cropped as short as a lawn by cattle. The deep, 
smooth sheet of water afforded a place at the camp- 
er’s very door for bathing, fishing, and boating. 
Futhermore, being just within the notch in the hills, 
the spot had all the appearance of being in some re- 
mote fastness in the mountains. If drinking water 
could be obtained, the spot would be all that heart 
could wish for. The campers would be by them- 
selves, where they could molest no one and them- 
selves be unmolested. 

Mr. Granby had visited this spot during fishing 
trips. He had led his charges here immediately 
after the train reached the station, the tents and per- 
sonal luggage being left behind. The boys were de- 
lighted with the place. They were sure it would be 
possible to find drinking water that was sufficiently 
near for convenience. At Mr. Granby’s suggestion 
they set forth in pairs to search for the desired spring. 
Little Johnnie Lee and Tom Sheppard accidentally 
found themselves together, so they set off in com- 
pany to hunt for the desired water. 


THE LIBERTY CAMP 


163 


Let’s go straight up-stream,” suggested Tom, 
and look for little brooks. If we find any we can 
trace them back to their sources and see whether 
the water is clean or not.” 

So up-stream they went. The little valley through 
which the stream ran was narrow. The mountains 
all about them were thickly wooded with second- 
growth timber. The bottom of the little valley was 
practically clear of underbrush. A thick sod covered 
the ground. For years cattle had grazed along the 
bank of the stream. This tended to keep the brush 
down and make the grass thrifty. So the margin of 
the stream was lined with a carpet of smooth turf. 
Lofty trees here and there, like those that shaded 
the proposed camping ground, offered bits of grate- 
ful shade. Certainly it was a most inviting little 
valley. 

“ Gee ! ” exclaimed Johnnie, after the two had 
walked a few hundred feet. “ I do hope we find 
drinking water. This is a bully place for a camp.” 

They went on. The stream twisted and turned, 
following the folds of the hills. Except for the open, 
grassy bottom, the place had all the appear- 
ance of an isolated nook deep in a wilderness. 
On the camp side of the stream the ground lay 
level and smooth for a few rods. Then the hills 
rose abruptly, in places almost precipitously. Their 
sides were jagged rocks, rough hewn by wind 
and weather. In crannies and crevices grew tiny 


164 


THE HIDDEN AERIAL 


wild flowers. On the opposite side of the stream 
the mountain ascended almost from the water^s 
edge. But instead of rising sharply, the slope 
was at first very slight. It could be climbed rapidly. 
Farther up the side of the mountain the grade be- 
came steeper. The mountain differed from the pre- 
cipitous hill on the camp side of the stream, also, in 
its formation. The hill consisted of towering ledges. 
The mountain was covered almost entirely with loose 
stones and boulders, which varied in size from little 
pebbles to rocks half as large as a house. So numer- 
ous were these loose stones, in fact, that a large 
area of the mountain-side contained no vegetation 
of any kind. There was nothing but a great gray- 
brown patch of the loose rocks, looking on the 
shoulder of the mountain as a patch of crushed rock 
looks on a highway. Indeed both Tom and Johnnie 
thought of the similarity. 

Looks as though some giant had come along with 
a whopping big load of stones and spread ’em on the 
side of the mountain, doesn’t it? ” said Johnnie. 

‘‘ Yes,” replied Tom, as he stood still for several 
moments, carefully examining the great stone patch. 
“ That’s a bad place to tackle,” he continued. We’ll 
probably do some mountain climbing before we go 
home, but let me give you a tip. Don’t try to climb 
to the top of this mountain by way of that stone 
pile.” 

Why not? ” 


THE LIBERTY CAMP 


165 


Don’t you see how smooth and well rounded 
most of the stones are? It wouldn’t take much to 
set ’em rolling on that steep slope, just like coal 
rattling down a chute into a cellar. If anybody 
started ’em going, he’d almost certainly be mashed 
to a pulp, for the stones would roll on him and cover 
him. Besides, I’ll bet that place is just full of 
rattlesnakes. It’s exactly the kind of a place they 
like.” 

Gee! ” rejoined Johnnie. I never thought about 
that. It sure would be some landslide, wouldn’t it? ” 

Yes,” smiled Tom. Only it would be all rocks.” 
They went on. Presently they came to a little 
brook running down the mountain-side. It was 
crystal clear and cold as ice. 

^^Just the thing we’re after,” said Tom. 

They had passed the open, rocky part of the slope 
and reached a section of the mountain that was fairly 
well timbered. The little stream came rushing down 
among the trees, splashing over mossy rocks, and 
swirling in tiny pools under fern-fringed banks. 
They could trace the stream up the hill for a short 
distance only. Then it was lost to sight among the 
trees and rocks. 

If we could get across the creek,” said Johnnie, 
we could see where the brook comes from.” 

We can,” said Tom. 

They began to look about for a crossing. Some 
distance up-stream they espied several rocks in the 


166 


THE HIDDEN AERIAL 


bed of the creek. By leaping from one to another 
of these rocks they got across the stream dry-shod. 
Then they came back to the little brook and followed 
it up to its source. To the surprise of both boys, the 
spring from which it came was well up the slope of 
the mountain. Here the crystal water came bub- 
bling up through white sand in a large U-shaped ba- 
sin. Great hemlock trees towered overhead, making 
it cool and dark. The horse-shoe basin was fully 
three feet deep and several feet in diameter, so that 
it contained several hundred gallons of water. 

Isn’t it a peach? ” cried Johnnie enthusiastically. 

It sure is,” agreed Tom. It’s about the finest 
spring I ever saw.” 

It’s too bad it isn’t nearer to camp,” sighed John- 
nie, “ so we could make use of it.” 

Oh! We can use it all right, but we’d have to 
have some pipes to do it. I wonder if we can get 
them. The spring is so high that it would give us a 
fine pressure and we could run the pipe almost 
straight to — ” He paused and listened. I wonder 
how those fellows got over there,” he said in aston- 
ishment. I didn’t notice any of our boys ahead of 
us, did you? ” 

“ No,” said Johnnie. Let’s see who they are.” 

At some distance away, but at about the same 
level on the slope of the hill, they had heard sounds 
indicating the presence of people. They started 
toward the place, making their way with some diffi- 


THE LIBERTY CAMP 


167 


culty along the steep shoulder of the mountain. 
But by clinging to trees and rocks, they made their 
way without getting below the level of the spring. 
Presently the ground ahead of them sloped sharply, 
and they saw that they were coming to a notch in 
the mountain. 

There’s sure to be a stream running down that 
notch,” said Tom. Some of the boys must have 
found it. But our spring is so much nearer the camp 
that it will be more practicable.” 

Presently they caught sight of a brown streak 
ahead of them and in another moment they under- 
stood that it was a highway. They had come to a pass 
over the mountain. But as they drew nearer, they 
saw it was a highway little if ever used. The sides 
were overgrown with briars and bushes. The gutters 
were choked with vegetation. But the central part 
of the road, where vehicles would pass if there were 
any to pass, was now nothing better than a pathway 
of rock. All the earth had been washed away by 
heavy storms. Only the bare and jagged ribs of the 
earth were left. And this rocky way was so rough 
that it would be almost impossible for any vehicle to 
pass over it. 

** Well,” said Tom, after viewing the highway with 
astonishment. I didn’t know there was a road 
over the mountain here. And I don’t believe many 
other people do. I live only a few miles away, but I 
never heard of this road. I suspect it is a very old 


168 


THE HIDDEN AERIAL 


road that hasn’t been used for years. Hello ! Those 
aren’t our fellows at all.” 

Several men were now visible along the road. One 
carried a surveyor’s transit, another a vernier rod. 

“ A bunch of surveyors,” said Johnnie. “ Let’s go 
see what they are doing.” 

The two boys made their way through the under- 
brush that lined the road and suddenly appeared 
on the abandoned highway. The surveying party 
looked at them in surprise, and also, it seemed, with 
some suspicion. 

Where did you come from? ” the leader of the 
surveying party at once demanded, looking at them 
with such a piercing glance that little Johnnie was 
almost frightened. 

Oh! We belong to the Boys’ Working Reserve,” 
said Tom. We’ve just come here to help the farm- 
ers in the valley.” 

What are you going to do? ” demanded the sur- 
veyor. 

Help farm, of course,” said Tom. We’ve come 
to help raise food to beat the Germans.” 

Very good,” smiled the man. Where is your 
camp? ” 

Tom' told him and his next question was, How 
many of you are there? ” 

“ Twenty-four boys and a leader.” 

“ Who’s your leader? ” 

** Mr. Howard Granby, from State College.” 


THE LIBERTY CAMP 


169 


Is he a farmer, or,” the man hesitated slightly, 
^^or an engineer perhaps, or what?” And he eyed 
Tom narrowly as he asked the question. 

He’s a' college student,” said Tom. I think he’s 
studying law.” 

Tom was certain the man heaved a sigh. A smile 
spread over his face. Well, enjoy yourselves,” he 
said. I remember how I used to like to go camping 
when I was your age. If I had time, I’d come down 
and visit your camp, but we’re running up a tele- 
phone line for the government and it’s a rush job. 
Uncle Sam wants those wires up at the first possible 
moment. So we’ll likely not see you again. But 
good luck to you.” 

The boys said good-bye and struck down the 
mountain, following the old road. They passed sev- 
eral men of the surveying corps and nodded to them. 
Several pole holes had been dug, and a few poles lay 
along the road or in the woods close to the road. The 
notch through which the road ran curved farther and 
farther away from the camp. 

If we follow this road all the way to the creek,” 
said Tom presently, we’ll be a dickens of a way 
from camp. Let’s cut straight back across the 
shoulder of the mountain, the way we came.” 

They did so, scrambling along as fast as they could 
on the steep slope, slipping on pine and hemlock 
needles, tripping over roots and stones, but hasten- 
ing to get the news of the spring to Mr. Granby as 


170 


THE HIDDEN AERIAL 


soon as possible. Once they paused for breath. 
Behind them they distinctly heard the crackle of dry 
twigs. As they looked around, a dark form slipped 
behind a tree trunk. 

^‘They^re following us,” said Johnnie. 

‘^Surest thing you know,” agreed Tom. ‘‘ I could 
see that they were suspicious of us by the way the 
leader asked questions. It’s likely that they think 
we’re spies and they don’t want to take any chances 
on our tampering with Uncle Sam’s new telephone 
line. Well, let them follow us. They’ll find out 
that we’re true-blue.” 

They went on. At times they heard footsteps be- 
hind them and caught glimpses of the man who fol- 
lowed them. When they came in sight of the camp 
ground, they saw that Mr. Granby had had the lug- 
gage brought up. Tents were rising and the stars 
and stripes already floated aloft. The man who had 
been following them was apparently satisfied, for at 
sight of the camp he turned and retraced his steps. 

That’s good,” said Mr. Granby to the two boys 
who had at once reported to him. “ Some of the other 
boys also found water, but none that seems as suit- 
able as your spring. I happen to know a man near 
here who has several thousand feet of old pipe that 
he’s going to use sometime for an overhead irriga- 
tion system. But I feel sure he won’t have time to 
install the system this summer. If he doesn’t, he 
will be willing to lend or to rent us the necessary pipe 


THE LIBERTY CAMP 


171 


if we get it and return it to him. Ill go to the near- 
est farmhouse and telephone him.^^ 

Half an hour later Mr. Granby returned and re- 
ported that they could have the pipes. The farmer 
for whom most of the boys were to work would begin 
to haul them at once. Within two hours the first 
load of pipes was on hand, piled neatly beside the 
creek, opposite the brook that came from the spring. 
A rude foot-bridge was hastily constructed, so that 
the little creek could be crossed with ease. Then, 
each carrying one or more lengths of pipe, accord- 
ing to his ability, the Liberty Camp boys began to 
push up the mountain toward the spring, like a line 
of ants carrying food to their nest. The intake pipe 
was plugged to prevent water from entering it. Far 
below the surface of the water it was thrust and 
anchored with heavy stones. Then a second length 
of pipe was screwed in place, and another and an- 
other. So the pipe line grew, length by length, as 
fast as the boys could carry up the pipe. Over rocks 
and stumps, now prone on the ground, now in air, 
the pipe line made its way straight toward camp. 
In due time it reached the creek. Lengths were 
added and the line extended across the little stream. 
Then on it went to camp, where the outlet end was 
fastened to a little tank, the overflow from which 
would run through a short spout directly into the 
creek. When all was ready, the signal was given, the 
boys at the spring basin removed the plug, the pure 


172 


THE HIDDEN AERIAL 


water rushed into the pipe, and several minutes later, 
with a rush of wind and a gurgle, the living water 
shot from the end of the pipe into the tank. In a 
short time this was full. The water system was com- 
plete. Meantime the tents had been going up with 
a rush. The mess tent and the cook tent were raised, 
the stoves set up, a place for a camp-fire selected and 
ringed with stones, the luggage all put in place, and 
the camp was complete. The Liberty Camp boys 
were ready to take their places in the furrows of 
freedom. 


CHAPTER XVI 


THE FURROWS OF FREEDOM 

rriHE morning sun, peeping over the shoulder of 
^ the hill at the little camp beside the creek, 
was scarcely earlier in his rising than were these 
young soldiers of the soil. Though military drill 
was no longer continued, and all the youthful farm- 
ers were now reduced to a common level, the bugle 
still blew to call them from their slumbers. And 
at this particular Liberty Camp it blew early, for 
Mr. Granby preached the doctrine that the early 
bird catches the worm, and practiced what he 
preached. So the camp was astir betimes. 

Very pleasant it was to these town-bred lads to 
feel the freshness of the early morn, to drink in the 
fragrance of the scented air, to see the grass sparkle 
with the diamonds of dew. Some of them had never 
before experienced the exhilaration of life afield in 
the very early morning. Some of them tumbled, 
grumbling, from their cots at the call of the bugle. 
But once fairly awake, every lad in the camp felt 
the spirit of the new-born day. Shouting, they ran 
to the rude benches they had fashioned along the 


17S 


174 


THE HIDDEN AERIAL 


creek margin, and here, with basins of water fresh 
caught from the spout on the tank, they washed the 
last remnants of sleepiness from their eyes. 

Under Mr. Granby^s leadership squads were 
quickly formed to attend to the usual camp duties. 
Some foraged for wood, chopped it into proper 
lengths, and stacked it under the protecting fly of 
the cook's tent. Some put the tents in order, roll- 
ing up the sides and spreading the blankets to air, 
as had been done at the training camp. Another 
squad assisted the cook, paring pototoes, fetching 
water, tending the fire, setting the table, and so on. 
The little valley rang with shouts and laughter, for 
it was a very happy group that bustled about in the 
early sunlight, preparatory to the first day of service 
in the furrows of freedom. 

Well might these lads have felt exultant. They 
were needed and needed badly on the near-by farms; 
but they had come in time. A neighboring truck- 
farmer desperately needed help in weeding and 
cultivating his crops; and though these crops 
covered a relatively small area, they contained 
greater food value and represented more money 
value than many acres of ordinary field crops. 
Help the trucker had not been able to get. Help 
he now had to have or the resultant losses would be 
large. What was more, he needed skilled help. One 
skilled hand alone meant all the difference to this 
food producer between a successful and a ruinous 


THE FURROWS OF FREEDOM 


175 


season; and to the country it meant the difference 
between the greatest possible food production and 
the loss of large amounts of foodstuffs. One man, 
one skilled man, was needed to plug this breach in 
the trenches of production. The Liberty Camp pos- 
sessed such a helper. He was little Johnnie Lee. 
Very proud, indeed, was Johnnie when the situation 
was set forth by the trucker, and Johnnie himself 
was selected by Mr. Granby as the lad best fitted to 
meet the need. Johnnie had indeed made good as 
a puller of weeds. 

Haying was still in progress on some of the farms 
and several boys were selected to help with this 
work. Another group went to assist in cultivating 
corn. Thus, in small units of two or three, the lads 
from Liberty Camp were scattered over the entire 
neighborhood. The largest group was assigned to 
assist the man who had hauled the pipes. His 
wheat harvest was ready to cut — acres and acres of 
it — and he, too, needed help at once to save the food 
he had produced. As harvesting is very heavy 
work, only the largest and strongest boys in camp 
were chosen for the task. So it came about that 
Lem, Charley Russell, Jimmy Donnelly, Tom Shep- 
pard, Frank Anderson, and Roger Branscome were 
among the harvest hands. 

Breakfast over, the boys marched away to their 
respective posts. Fair, indeed, was the land of free- 
dom in whose furrows they had come to toil. The 


176 


THE HIDDEN AERIAL 


gently-sloping farm lands, backed by the towering 
mountains and reaching to the swelling river, 
presented a lovely picture as the little group of boys 
came marching through the notch in the foothills. 
The mountain formed a solid background of dark 
green. The bottom-lands were carpeted with a 
tapestry of rich colors — the yellow-bronze of ripe 
wheat, the vivid green of oats, the waving fields of 
young corn, the orchards in full leaf, the gray-brown 
of shorn hayfields, and the patches of fresh-plowed 
earth where buckwheat was to go. Here and there 
stood the farmhouses, dwarfed in size by the huge 
red barns that towered near them, and cosily fianked 
by orchards or set snugly among lofty pines or 
maples. 

The farm where the wheat harvesters were to 
work was a large one. It stretched along the river 
for many hundred yards and extended entirely to the 
hills. One could not pass up or down the valley on 
that side of the river without crossing this farm. 
Both the railroad and the public highway cut 
through the property. 

Happy, indeed, was Farmer Henderson when he 
espied the little group marching toward his wheat- 
field. For days he had been sadly worried concerning 
his crop. At first he was troubled because he knew 
not where or how to secure the necessary hands to 
harvest it. But later as the grain ripened and the 
straw dried, the fear of fire had oppressed him. The 


THE FURROWS OF FREEDOM 


177 


wheat-field bordered the railroad track. Only the 
narrow railroad right of way separated the dried 
grain from the steel tracks where passed train after 
train, the locomotives all too often shooting glowing 
coals from their short stacks. On windless days, 
or days when the wind blew from its usual quarter, 
these sparks fell harmlessly on the stone-ballasted 
right of way, or in the green pasture on the opposite 
side of the track. But it needed only a change in 
the direction of the wind to spray the wheat-field 
with red-hot embers. While the wheat was still 
green this change of wind had more than once 
swept the sparks from the locomotives into the field. 
But there was nothing to burn easily. Now the 
straw was like tinder. 

For days, therefore, Mr. Henderson had watched 
the wind and the wheat-field as a mother hen 
watches over her chicks. But the wind had held 
steadily in its accustomed quarter and no harm had 
resulted. Now there were signs of impending 
changes in the weather, which meant also a shift 
in the wind. Weather-wise, Farmer Henderson 
had sensed these changes on the preceding evening. 
Many times during the night he had been up look- 
ing out toward the endangered side of the wheat- 
field. But no damage had occurred, and though the 
wind was now plainly shifting to the threatening 
quarter, Mr. Henderson no longer felt alarmed. He 
knew the boys marching across his broad fields 


178 


THE HIDDEN AERIAL 


would get the grain harvested before damage could 
occur. So he welcomed his young helpers with a 
heartiness altogether unexpected. 

He, too, had been up early. In fact, his day^s 
labors had begun before even the sun was abroad. 
Now everything was in readiness for immediate 
work. Two binders, to each of which three horses 
were harnessed, stood oiled and ready. The neces- 
sary implements — cradles, rakes, forks — had been 
carried to the wheat-field. The grain in the corners 
of the great field had been cradled, made into 
sheaves, and tossed aside. All was prepared for 
immediate work. 

I didn't open up anything but the corners with 
the cradle," said Mr. Henderson to Mr. Granby. 
'Tt would have taken too long to cradle all around 
the field. We’ll open up with a binder. I want 
your boys to come along behind and set up the 
wheat." 

Mr. Granby understood exactly what was to be 
done; but most of his followers did not. So he 
explained the plan to them. 

^‘You see, boys," he said, ‘'the wheat extends 
right up to the fences, so there’s no place for the 
horses to walk except right in the grain. Usually 
farmers cut a path around the edge of a grainfield 
with a cradle, so the horses won’t tramp the grain. 
There wasn’t time for Mr. Henderson to do this, 
so he’s going to drive his binder right through the 


THE FURROWS OF FREEDOM 


179 


wheat. That will cut a path the same as the cradle 
would have cut it, but in the field the grain will be 
knocked down where the binder wheels and the 
horses’ feet went through it. We are to take rakes 
and forks and follow the binder, setting the broken 
wheat up straight again so that the binder can cut 
it on the next round. This is the way to do it.” 

Mr. Henderson started his horses. The binder 
rolled into place, the gears were shifted, and with a 
tremendous rattle and roar the great machine began 
to cut and bind the ripe wheat. Mr. Granby seized 
a fork, and holding it wrong end first, slipped the 
end of the handle under the trampled grain and 
gently raised it upright. Slowly he walked behind 
the binder, at each step raising the trampled grain 
beside him. His followers immediately understood 
what was required of them, and grasping forks and 
rakes, some of them assisted in setting up the grain 
while others threw the sheaves to the side of the 
field. Thus a path was cleared around the outer 
edge of the field, and the trampled grain was raised 
so that the mower knives could cut it properly. 

As Mr. Henderson drew up his team after com- 
pleting the round of the field, he smiled with satis- 
faction. He had increased the distance between the 
wheat and the danger point by the width of his 
swath. The two binders, following one close behind 
the other, would triple the width of that protective 
belt in no time. And although the wind was now 


180 


THE HIDDEN AERIAL 


squarely out of the wrong corner and coming fresher 
every minute, Mr. Henderson no longer felt 
alarmed. A few rounds with the binder would 
make the field absolutely safe. 

I want a good man to drive the other binder, 
Mr. Granby,’^ said Mr. Henderson. Have you a 
boy who can handle horses well? ” 

I sure have,” was the reply. Then, turning to 
Charley Russell, the camp leader said, Take that 
binder, Charley, and be sure you cut clean. Mind 
you get your corners square.” 

Meantime Mr. Henderson was adjusting his sheaf 
carrier, which had been taken off when he opened 
the field. Now he clucked to his horses, they 
strained against their collars, and the ponderous 
binder began to roar. Charley started his team and 
followed close after his leader. His companions, 
under Mr. Granby^s supervision, began to set the 
sheaves up in shocks. He showed them how to lean 
the sheaves against one another so they would stand 
securely, let the wind blow as it might, and how to 
cap the shocks with other sheaves, thatching them, 
as it were, against the rain. A pleasing sight was 
this harvest scene, with the great machines roaring 
in the distance like a multitude of locusts, the busy 
hands setting up the sheaves, and the little shocks 
begining to dot the field. 

A peculiarly shaped field was this. At one end 
it was rectangular. The boundary along the other 


THE FURROWS OF FREEDOM 


181 


end was irregular in shape. That corner of this end 
that lay nearest the railroad formed an acute angle. 
It made a difficult place to turn the binders. The 
field being so large, the distance around it was nearly 
a mile. 

Steadily the work progressed. Along the crooked 
end of the field, across the shorter of the two sides, 
and then around the rectangular end Mr. Henderson 
drove his binder, smiling happily as he tilted the 
sheaf carrier and dropped the fat sheaves in piles. 
When he turned at the corners he looked back and 
saw that Charley was coming steadily behind him, 
cutting the grain straight and true, and dropping 
his sheaves beside the little piles Mr. Henderson 
himself had made, while the other harvesters 
pressed close behind the machines, erecting shock 
after shock. It was hot, with the typical heat of 
harvest days, but the heat this day was tempered by 
the wind which every moment blew fresher. 

As Mr. Henderson completed his round of the 
field, coming down the long stretch beside the rail- 
way, a passenger train went rushing by. Anxiously 
Mr. Henderson watched to see whether or not any 
little columns of smoke would spring up in the 
wheat. But the train passed out of sight; no tell- 
tale smoke arose from the field, and Mr. Henderson 
smiled happily. 

I guess that settles it,’^ he said to himself. 
** When this round is done, we shall have put such 


182 


THE HIDDEN AERIAL 


a wide swath between the grain and the railroad 
that sparks canT possibly carry across/^ So he 
dismissed the matter from his mind. 

He completed his round, turned at the sharp angle, 
and began his second round. Charley, delayed for 
a little by the breaking of his twine, had fallen far 
behind Mr. Henderson. Thanks to his training at 
State College he knew what to do. He rethreaded 
the needle, saw that the binding apparatus worked 
properly, and started on. He, too, made the sharp- 
angle turn and started across the field. The shock 
makers were at the far end of the field. Charley 
alone was near the sharp-angle corner. Again his 
twine went wrong. He stopped his team, climbed 
to the ground, and began to search for the end of the 
broken twine. A freight train came chugging by, 
puffing slowly up grade. By the roar of the engine 
Charley knew that the locomotive was under forced 
draught. But he gave no heed to the train, for he 
was half-way under the binder and in a trying 
position. He got the twine loose; once more he 
threaded his needle, and stepped free of the machine. 
A great puff of wind lifted his big straw hat and 
sent it flying into the wheat. Charley carefully 
edged after it, trying not to break down the grain. 
Before his eyes the wheat bent and rippled in the 
sharp wind, like wind-blown water. Charley reached 
his hat and bent to pick it up. Distinctly a whiff 
of smoke came to his nostrils. But it was not coal 


THE FURROWS OF FREEDOM 


18S 


smoke. It was smoke from burning straw. Charley 
straightened up as though he had been jabbed with 
a pitchfork. A single glance told him the entire 
story. Smoke was rising in the straw at the very 
point of the sharp-angled corner of the grain. Even 
as he looked, another gust of wind bent down the 
grain, and the smoke changed to a sheet of flame. 

Charley’s heart stood still. Mr. Henderson was 
now on the far side of the field. Charley’s fellows 
were at the other end. All were hundreds of yards 
away. If the fire was to be put out, he must do it. 
There was no one to help. He leaped toward the 
blazing triangular corner. Another gust drove the 
flames, fan-shaped, deep into the wheat. One man 
could no longer beat out the fire. Besides, Charley 
had nothing to beat it out with. For a second he 
stood irresolute, trying to think. It was useless to 
call out. Against the noise of Mr. Henderson’s 
binder and the thunder of the passing train, his voice 
would not have carried a hundred yards. If the 
wheat was to be saved, he saw that he must save it 
himself. 

An idea came to him. Like a flash he sprang to 
his seat. He grabbed up whip and lines. Savagely 
he spun the startled horses around. Already they 
were becoming nervous at the smell of smoke. 
Throwing the machinery out of gear, he drove the 
horses furiously down the path he had just cut. 
At what he judged the proper distance from the 


184 


THE HIDDEN AERIAL 


flames, now momentarily checked by a lull in the 
wind, he turned his horses into the grain, threw his 
machinery into gear, and drove straight across the 
triangle as fast as the mower would cut. He was 
trying to make a fire lane between the flames and the 
rest of the field. Before he was half-way across, the 
wind freshened and the flames again raced toward 
him. Mercilessly Charley drove his horses. The 
whip and the fire both excited them. They were 
hardly manageable. They tried to turn from the 
flames. Charley threw all his weight on the reins 
and held them straight. 

On came the flames. Charley saw he had made 
his triangle too small. He should have started his 
fire-lane deeper in the wheat. There was nothing to 
do now but keep on. He dashed through the remain- 
ing grain and reached the side of the field bordering 
the track. There he whirled his horses again, head- 
ing them back into the grain. As he turned, he 
glanced toward his fellows. They were running 
wildly toward him. On the far side of the field he 
saw Mr. Henderson tearing straight toward him on 
a horse he had cut loose from his binder. For the 
first time Charley realized that the locomotive engi- 
neer was shrieking the alarm with his whistle. Help 
was coming, but Charley knew that he alone must 
save the wheat. 

Back along the track he had made, doubling the 
width of his protective swath, Charley drove his now 



Fast as he drove, it seemed as though the flames ran faster. 




t 



THE FURROWS OF FREEDOM 


185 


frantic team. It was useless to ply the whip. The 
difficulty was to hold the horses. With a quick twist 
of his wrist Charley flung his whip aside. Then, 
bracing his feet against the machine before him, 
Charley pulled on the reins with all his force. But 
his horses were now beyond control. Madly they 
tore through the wheat. Yet they responded to his 
guiding, and Charley held them straight to their 
course, held them there with the fire almost under 
their very bodies. 

Behind him he dared not, could not, look. He 
prayed that his double swath was wide enough to 
check the flames. The single swath ahead of him he 
saw was not sufficient to stop them. Fast as he 
drove, the flames seemed to run faster. The contest 
narrowed to a race between the two forces — horse 
power and fire. If he could cross the field in time, 
if he could widen his swath before the flames reached 
the edge of it, Charley believed he could save the 
wheat. But could he do it? 

Ahead of him the wind drove the flames ever 
faster. At the very end of his swath they were 
closest to the swath. Could he widen the swath 
before the flames reached the edge? 

Furiously he drove. With all his power he held 
the horses true to their course. But fast as he drove, 
it seemed as though the flames ran faster. Then 
almost before he knew it, he was right in the midst 
of the fire. The very wheat he was cutting was 


186 


THE HIDDEN AERIAL 


aflame. The next instant he had completed his 
swath. 

He tried to turn his team to cut a third swath, 
but the horses were beyond control. The animal 
that had been nearest the flames was badly singed. 
It was snorting and quivering with terror. But 
Charley managed to guide the animals into the swath 
bordering the wheat. As he thundered along toward 
the opposite side of the field, perilously swaying and 
bouncing in his high seat, he took one rapid glance 
backward, despite the danger, then turned again and 
did his utmost to check the flying horses. What 
he saw in that instant^s glance set his heart to beating 
joyously. Only a few points of flame had jumped 
his swath, and his comrades had arrived and were 
beating out those flames. The wheat was saved. 


CHAPTER XVII 


WHAT LEM OVERHEARD 

rpHE racing team of horses had almost reached the 
other side of the field before Charley got them 
under control. He did not succeed in stopping them 
until he had arrived at the far edge of the wheat. 
Then he climbed from his seat, and holding the still 
trembling animals by their bridles, talked to them 
softly and gently, patting their shoulders and strok- 
ing their noses, and trying to calm them. In a very 
few minutes they were standing quietly, heads down, 
now feeling the fatigue of their tremendous efforts. 
Carefully Charley looked them over. None of the 
three seemed to be harmed. The animal that was 
singed looked bad, but Charley saw that the flesh 
was burned only in a few small spots. He knew the 
injuries would rapidly heal, that a new coat of hair 
would grow in, and that the horse would soon be as 
good as ever. 

And now, when he was sure that everything was 
all right — that the wheat was safe and the animals 
sound — he suddenly fell a-trembling and became so 
weak he could hardly stand. The natural reaction 

187 


188 


THE HIDDEN AERIAL 


from his exciting contest with the flames had set in. 
Charlie had never felt that way before and did not 
understand it. He thought something was wrong 
with him. He believed he was about to be sick. 
His legs shook so that he could hardly stand, so he 
sat down on the ground. Then he stretched him- 
self prone, and buried his face in his arms. In a 
very few minutes he began to feel better, but before 
he could get to his feet he heard footsteps, and then 
Farmer Henderson knelt beside him, gratitude and 
anxiety filling his eyes. When Mr. Henderson 
found that Charley was not hurt, he sighed with 
relief, and thanked him for saving the wheat. So 
deep was his emotion that his voice shook as he 
spoke. 

Young man,” he said, I don’t know how I can 
ever thank you enough. There’s close to two thou- 
sand dollars’ worth of wheat in that field. If it had 
burned, I’d have been ruined. I was counting on 
that wheat to pay my mortgage that falls due this 
summer. I don’t know how to thank you, young 
man, but you can have anything on this farm in 
reason that you want to ask for.” 

“Why, I didn’t do anything,” replied Charley, 
suddenly abashed. “ I only tried to save the wheat. 
Any of the other fellows would have done the same 
thing.” 

“They might have tried, if they had had the brains 
to do it,” commented Mr. Henderson, “but they 


WHAT LEM OVERHEARD 


189 


wouldn't have succeeded. I don't know yet how you 
made those animals do it. I doubt if I could have 
made them. You must be a natural horseman." 

Charley smiled with pleasure. The compliment 
delighted him more than the farmer's thanks. 

I'm mighty glad you are satisfied," said Charley. 

I'm glad for your sake the wheat is safe. And I'm 
glad for the hungry people in Europe. All the time 
I was racing with those flames I kept seeing the 
faces of hungry little Belgian children, and I knew 
I just had to save the wheat." 

^^Well, young man, you and your friends will 
always be welcome on this farm. We’ll never forget 
this day and what you boys have done for us.” 

I guess there's plenty left to do yet," said Charley 
with a smile. “ I'd better be getting at it." And 
he climbed to his seat on the binder and started 
down the side of the field. 

Soon Mr. Henderson was back on his own binder, 
and the two machines went round and round the 
field, ever drawing nearer and nearer to the centre, 
while the rest of the harvesters continued to set up 
shocks. By dinner time the waving wheat in the 
inner part of the field was surrounded by a wide belt 
of closely cut stubble, dotted with innumerable 
shocks. 

When the farm bell rang out its welcome summons, 
the boys formed in a little column and marched off 
to camp. Mr. Henderson urged them to stay with 


190 


THE HIDDEN AERIAL 


him, but it had been arranged that the boys should 
eat at camp, at least at the start. So the little 
company walked off briskly and speedily disappeared 
through the notch that led to the Liberty Camp. 
There they found dinner steaming on the table, and 
their comrades from other farms awaiting them. 
Under the cool shade of the lofty elms, and close 
beside the inviting creek, they ate their noonday meal 
and compared their experiences of the morning. 
But no one else had had, or was likely to have, as 
exciting an adventure as Charley’s. He was the hero 
of the hour. 

Suddenly the conversation was interrupted by a 
peculiar tapping sound. “ Listen,” exclaimed 
Johnnie Lee, who first heard the noise. “ What’s 
that? ” 

“ Tap ! tap ! tap ! Rat-a-tap, tap ! ” came the 
sound. 

Every one ceased talking. In the sudden silence 
only the splash of the overflow from the tank, the 
whispering of leaves aloft, and the curious tapping 
sound were audible. Every one looked puzzled. 
Suddenly little Johnnie jumped from his seat and ran 
over to the pipe line from the spring. 

Here it is,” he cried, laying his hand on the pipe. 
‘^You can hear it plain. Somebody must be 
hammering on the pipe. Maybe some of those 
surveyors are getting a drink at the spring.” 

The sound came intermittently and irregularly, 


WHAT LEM OVERHEARD 


191 


sometimes at infrequent intervals, and again in 
almost continuous taps. Now the sound was loud, 
now hardly audible. 

I wonder what they can be doing,” said Johnnie. 

I don’t believe it’s those surveyors at all,” said 
Tom Sheppard, after studying the noise intently. 
“ I think it’s most likely some of those large stones 
rolling down the mountain-side and striking the pipe 
as they pass over it.” 

I believe you’re right,” said Johnnie. “ That’s 
exactly what it sounds like. But what do you 
suppose started ’em to rolling? ” 

“ I don’t know,” rejoined Tom. I’ve often seen 
stones roll down a bare patch like that. Maybe the 
high wind broke off a tree limb or blew down some 
dead tree and that started the thing. The wind’s 
pretty strong up there on the mountain-side. You 
fellows want to be careful if you climb the mountain. 
Don’t try to cross that stone pile. You’ll set ’em 
rolling sure and they’ll mash you.” 

The tapping ceased and the boys went on with 
their dinner. When they had eaten, they sat for a 
few minutes on the grassy bank of the creek, resting. 
Then they formed in line and marched back to their 
respective tasks. 

The heat had become terrific. Under the cool 
shade by the cool water, they had not realized it. 
But when they emerged from the notch and marched 
across the bare, open fields, they felt as though they 


192 


THE HIDDEN AERIAL 


were walking through some great oven. The sun 
poured down almost perpendicularly. Even the 
wind was hot. The very atmosphere quivered as 
heat waves rose incessantly from the baked earth. 

^^Take it easy, boys,^’ called Mr. Granby, as his 
little command was about to split up. ‘^Put some 
green leaves in your hats.’^ 

And walking to a fence-row, he set the example 
by placing within his big straw hat some large leaves 
from the scrub-oaks and sassafras bushes that had 
sprung up along the line. His comrades did like- 
wise. Then, with laughing farewells, the various 
little groups went off to their respective tasks: 
Johnnie, to his weeding, others to their hay-making, 
and Mr. Granby and the larger boys to farmer Hen- 
derson’s wheat-field. 

Had those who smile at the term soldier of the 
soil ” been compelled to join the young recruits with 
Mr. Granby on that blazing summer day, they would 
never again have sneered at those patriots who toiled 
in the furrows of freedom. For toil they did. 
Down their faces ran little streams of perspiration. 
Soon dark spots appeared on their clothing, which 
spread and spread, as their garments soaked up the 
sweat, until the young harvesters were drenched 
from head to foot — literally and actually drenched 
with perspiration. With such excessive perspiration 
came weakness. Unaccustomed to the trying labor, 
the lads from the Liberty Camp fagged badly. Yet 


WHAT LEM OVERHEARD 


193 


they pluckily kept at their work, though Mr. Granby 
cautioned them to take it easy,’’ and more than once 
ordered a lad to stop for rest. 

So magnetic was their leader that he had gained 
complete ascendency over even the Anderson crowd. 
All morning long Frank and his two cronies, Roger 
and Clarence, had worked faithfully and well. But 
long-established selfishness is not to be overcome in 
a twinkling. When afternoon came, and the heat 
proved almost overpowering, this trio began to 
grumble. But they grumbled only among them- 
selves. They had been shamed so many times that 
they did not now dare openly to show a yellow streak. 
They liked their new leader greatly; but, like every 
other lad in camp, they also entertained a whole- 
some fear of his anger. For Howard Granby’s 
entire attitude showed that he would be a human 
thunderbolt if he were aroused. So they kept on 
working, but did as little as they could without 
drawing down a reproof upon themselves. 

Mr. Granby noticed their indifference to their 
tasks, but not knowing them well, set it down to 
weariness. Presently he worked his way over to 
them. 

‘‘You three boys had better rest a bit,” he said. 
“ It won’t do to get overheated. Go over there in 
the shade for a few moments.” 

Gladly the three obeyed. Dropping the sheaves 
they held, they made their way to the shelter indi- 


194 


THE HIDDEN AERIAL 


cated. The irregular boundary of the field was formed 
by a little brook. Here and there trees were clus- 
tered on its margin. The thickest shade of all was 
cast by a group of trees in a near-by hollow. Thither 
the boys made their way. Seated on the ground be- 
neath the trees, they were completely hidden from 
their comrades. Being out of sight, they remained 
there. The “ few minutes ” Mr. Granby had told 
them to rest soon passed, but they still sat in the 
shade. And they were still sitting there an hour 
later, though their comrades had meantime been 
toiling doggedly through the very hottest hour of 
the day. Mr. Granby did not notice that they had 
failed to return, and the other boys were too weary to 
think of anything except the work before them. 

Meantime the weather changes foreseen by Mr. 
Henderson were rapidly coming about. Clouds that 
had gathered on the horizon earlier in the day were 
now overspreading the sky. Gradually the haze 
lessened the heat of the sun^s rays. The sky be- 
came overcast. Evidently rain was at hand. To 
finish the harvest, or at least as great a part of it as 
possible, was now highly imperative. The grain was 
dead ripe. If it stood uncut much longer, it would 
shell out badly in handling, and many bushels would 
be lost. So Mr. Granby urged his followers to make 
a supreme effort, speaking to each boy as he reached 
him in his round of the field. But as the lads were 
scattered over the entire field, he did not notice that 
Anderson and his two comrades were still absent. 


WHAT LEM OVERHEARD 


195 


It seemed as though an ill fate still pursued Lem, 
for he alone discovered that they were missing. 
What was more, he was directly opposite the little 
cluster of trees under which they were sheltered when 
he made the discovery. He had seen them go thither 
and knew that Mr. Granby must have told them to 
go. He also knew they should long since have re- 
turned to the field. Carefully he looked at his fellow 
workers, to make certain that the three boys had not 
come back. They were nowhere visible. Their help 
was badly needed. Somebody ought to summon 
them. Lem did not want to tell Mr. Granby about 
their absence. That savored of talebearing. Besides 
it would be thought that he had done the thing out 
of spite. Apparently there was nothing to do but 
Summon them himself. And though he was no 
longer in an ofiicial position, the habit of command 
still persisted. As Lem turned the matter over in 
his mind, it seemed to him that there was only one 
thing for him to do. He must go call the missing 
lads. He disliked the task, but his duty seemed to 
require this of him. Setting his teeth grimly, he 
made his way toward the sheltered hollow. 

He heard the sound of voices before he came in 
sight of the lads he was after; and almost the first 
word that came to his ears made him pause. His 
own name had been spoken. For a moment he stood 
irresolute. He wanted to learn what was being said 
about him. Yet he did not like the idea of eaves- 


196 


THE HIDDEN AERIAL 


dropping. He determined that he would walk boldly 
and briskly into the hollow, deliver his message, 
and come away at once. But the next snatch of con- 
versation that came to his ears rooted him to the 
ground like a statue. The trio in the hollow were 
plotting to get him into trouble! 

A great rage entered his heart. An almost uncon- 
trollable desire to rush at his enemies and beat them 
took possession of him. But he gripped himself and 
tried to think what was the right thing to do. Nor 
was he long in deciding. Quickly he learned that 
the plot to harm him would also result in injury to 
Mr. Henderson and indirectly lead to the loss of 
foodstuffs. For Frank Anderson and his fellows 
were discussing how they could damage some of the 
necessary farming machinery in such a way that 
Lem would be suspected of committing the deed. 
The matter no longer concerned Lem alone. His 
duty was plain enough. He must find out all he 
could about the scheme and prevent its accomplish- 
ment. Without further hesitation he dropped to the 
ground, and wormed his way within easy ear-shot of 
the plotters. And there he remained until he had 
heard the last detail of the proposed plan. Then he 
hurriedly withdrew and went back to his task of 
shocking wheat, getting Jimmy Donnelly to summon 
the missing lads to their duty. So the harvest con- 
tinued until the rain came, and the workers were 
driven, drenched and dripping, to the shelter of the 
farmhouse. 


CHAPTER XVIII 


A STARTLING DISCOVERY 

A ll the following night rain fell in torrents. The 
countryside was turned into a sea of mud. The 
tiny trickles of water in the hollows became rushing 
streams. The brooks swelled to many times their 
normal size. The big creek became a raging river. 
Outdoor work of almost any sort was out of the ques- 
tion. The farmers did not have sufficient work in- 
doors to employ all the boys from the Liberty Camp, 
and in consequence some of them had a holiday. 

Among those left unemployed at camp was Lem. 
He was glad for the idle hours that had come to him. 
He wanted a chance to think things over, for he was 
sorely perplexed. If he took the matter to Mr. 
Granby and the latter should question Anderson and 
his friends, they would, of course, deny the charge. 
Then Lem would be open to the suspicion, at least, 
of having told a falsehood about them, for they 
would then have to abandon their plan. But Lem 
now understood Anderson too well to believe that 
he would give up his idea of revenge. Anderson 
had vowed he would have the last laugh.’’ That 


197 


198 


THE HIDDEN AERIAL 


meant he would continue his scheming until he suc- 
ceeded in getting Lem into trouble. The wise thing, 
it seemed to Lem, was to let Frank believe his plot 
was undiscovered and to thwart him in the accom- 
plishment of it. But that was more easily said than 
done. Lem decided to go for a walk and think the 
situation over carefully. 

Fortunately he had a waterproof coat and over- 
shoes. So he set out with little fear of the dripping 
bushes and the wet grass. He went straight up the 
little valley. At the point where the footbridge had 
been erected to carry the waterpipes across the creek, 
he paused in astonishment. The bridge had been 
swept away. He had not previously realized how 
much water had fallen durkig the night. It had been 
his intention to cross the bridge and climb up to the 
spring, for although Lem had helped to construct the 
pipe line, he had not been up to the spring itself. 

It’s no use,” he said to himself. I can’t cross 
here. I’ll go on up where the road from the notch 
comes down that Tom Sheppard told us about. 
There ought to be a bridge where that road crosses 
this creek.” 

He went on, knocking little showers of sparkling 
rain-drops from the grass and bushes, thinking all 
the while what he ought to do with regard to Ander- 
son. Lem did not like to tell Mr. Granby about the 
plot, for the latter would almost certainly watch the 
Anderson crowd so closely that they would take 


A STARTLING DISCOVERY 


199 


alarm. So he decided to get Charley Russell to tell 
Mr. Henderson the exact situation — how personal 
jealousy and dislike had led to the difficulties at the 
training camp, and how Anderson had vowed he 
would be revenged. Then Mr. Henderson could be 
on his guard and could protect his machinery. That, 
above all things, was necessary; for with metal so 
scarce and so much needed for army use, it was well- 
nigh impossible to get new parts for any damaged 
machine. Thus the breaking of even a tiny cog- 
wheel might mean that an entire machine was crip- 
pled for the season; and that, in turn, might mean 
inability to harvest a crop. 

So engrossed in thought was the lad that almost 
before he knew it, he had come to the point where 
the expected bridge should have been. From the 
contour of the mountain Lem saw that the old road 
must come down the notch opposite which he stood. 
He could even see the little stream, now a swollen 
torrent, coming down the notch and emptying into 
the creek. But nowhere was there visible any trace 
of either a road or a bridge. And not only was there 
no bridge, but there was no evidence that there had 
ever been a bridge. 

I don’t understand it,” said Lem to himself ; “ I’ll 
go upstream a little farther. Maybe I can find some 
way to get across.” 

He did. Not more than two hundred yards up- 
stream the floor of the little valley rose abruptly 


200 


THE HIDDEN AERIAL 


several yards, and the stream flowed between steep 
and narrow banks. As luck would have it, a large 
elm tree, blown over by the preceding day^s storm, 
had fallen directly across this narrow neck of the 
creek. This natural bridge offered a way to cross. 
Carefully balancing himself on the wet and slippery 
trunk, Lem edged his way across the flood. Then he 
went back along the other bank toward the notch in 
which the old road was located. 

He came shortly to the little stream that poured 
down the bottom of the notch, yet he could see no 
trace of any road. So he started to ascend the notch, 
making his way with some difficulty up the wet and 
slippery slope, which was here thickly covered with 
brush and saplings. Up he went a hundred yards, 
then two hundred, and Anally he climbed fully a 
quarter of a mile before glimpsing the road he was 
after. When at last he reached it, he found that it 
was not really a road at all, but a gullied skidway, 
down which, in seasons past, logs had been dragged. 
The rains of years had rushed down the trough thus 
formed, widening and deepening it until the resulting 
gash in the mountain very much resembled a washed 
out mountain road. The soil thus carried down the 
hill had evidently settled, in part at least, at the foot 
of the slope beside the creek; and in this deposit of 
good soil the saplings and brush he had penetrated 
had sprung up. Lem judged that the lumbering 
operations for which this skidway was made must 


A STARTLING DISCOVERY 


201 


have been finished many years back, for the old 
stumps had almost rotted away and the second 
growth of timber was of good size. It was no wonder 
Tom Sheppard had never heard of the old road. To 
begin with, it wasn’t a road at all, and probably 
neither horse nor log train had passed along it since 
Tom was born. 

Having made up his mind as to the history of the 
little highway, Lem pushed on up the slope. As yet 
he saw no evidence of the surveyors’ work. But pres- 
ently he came to a prostrate telephone pole. Others 
lay along the way or in the woods close by, and some 
holes had been dug to put them in. Just now the 
holes were nearly full of water. 

^'This is a mighty queer place for a telephone- 
line,” said Lem to himself, as he pushed on toward 
the summit. It wouldn’t seem strange if this was a 
real road, but it’ isn’t. Telegraph and telephone-lines 
almost always follow the roads, or at least are put in 
accessible places. A telegraph wire doesn’t have to 
run straight or follow an air-line. Now, what would 
they do this coming winter if this line broke and 
there were four feet of snow on this mountain? It 
gets deeper than that up here sometimes. I’ll be 
switched if I can figure it out. But I suppose Uncle 
Sam knows what he is doing. 

“ There’s another thing I don’t understand,” 
thought Lem. ‘Why don’t they peel the poles? I 
never before saw telephone poles with the bark on.” 


202 


THE HIDDEN AERIAL 


After a time he looked about him. The skidway 
ended at the summit, and did not pass down the far 
slope of the mountain. So, too, Lem now noticed, 
did the telephone-line. 

I suppose they mean to chop out a way for it down 
this slope when they finish the line up the skidway, 
he said to himself. Funny I don’t see anything of 
them ; but probably they think it’s too wet to work.” 

He turned to retrace his steps. “ That’s funny,” 
thought Lem. They’ve run a ground-wire down 
that pole.” 

His sharp eye had detected four little wire threads 
leading down from the four wires aloft. The four 
little wires were twisted into one close to the junc- 
tion of the pole and the cross-arm. But there Lem 
lost sight of them. W ondering, he stepped close to the 
pole. Now he saw that the bark had been slit lon- 
gitudinally the entire length of the pole. It had been 
lifted, the twisted wires slipped underneath, and the 
bark tacked back in place again, so that the ground- 
wire ran underneath the bark from the cross-arm to 
the earth. A less observant eye would have failed 
entirely to see what Lem had discovered. But his 
interest in wireless telegraphy had made him observ- 
ant of anything that had to do with the electric 
transmission of messages. 

'' I wonder how it’s grounded,” he thought. 

He looked, but saw no grounding iron. Then Lem 
noticed that some one had dug a little trench lead- 


A STARTLING DISCOVERY 


203 


ing straight away from the base of the pole. To be 
sure, it had been covered up and skilfully smoothed 
over, and the rain had beaten it down. But the colors 
of the upturned subsoil indicated the line of trench. 
It went straight across the skidway and into the 
woods. Lem followed the line for a few yards. 

I’m going to see what’s in this trench,” he said 
to himself. 

He dropped to his knees and with a piece of a branch 
began to dig up the rain-softened earth. He dug 
down fully a foot before he found anything unusual. 
Then his improvised shovel caught on something 
that felt like a thin root. Grasping the supposed 
root with his fingers, Lem was astonished to feel a 
twist in it. Gently he pulled it into sight. What he 
had hold of was a twisted and well insulated wire. 
Instantly he recalled how the German dynamiters 
had concealed their wireless in similar fashion at the 
Elk City reservoir. With trembling hands he cov- 
ered up the wire, filled the trench, and removed all 
marks of his work. Then he hastened back to the 
skidway. There he took a closer look at the tele- 
phone-line. And now he discovered what had pre- 
viously escaped his notice. The wires between the 
last two poles in the line were insulated from the 
wires farther down the line and cleverly united at 
each end by fine wires lying close along the cross- 
arms of the poles. 

Almost too astonished for words, Lem stood look- 


204 


THE HIDDEN AERIAL 


ing aloft for a full half minute. Then he exclaimed 
softly, What do you think of that ! As pretty a 
wireless aerial as ever you saw.” 

Again he looked around in silent astonishment, 
busy with his thoughts. After a time he said, It’s 
as plain as daylight now. The bark was left on those 
poles purposely so they wouldn’t be noticeable. This 
isn’t any telephone-line at all. It’s a radio outfit. 
The wire I dug up leads to the transmitting instru- 
ments. Somewhere on this mountain-side there 
must be a cave or a hidden hut.” 

Again Lem looked aloft. Who ever would have 
guessed it? ” he muttered to himself. It’s the clev- 
erest thing I ever heard of. Any one who ran across 
them would have believed them just as we did. But 
I’ll bet my head that those men aren’t Uncle Sam’s 
surveyors at all. They’re German spies and this is 
their wireless outfit.” 


CHAPTER XIX 


BREAKING THE JAM 

S O amazed was Lem at his discovery that he 
hardly knew what to do. But after a moment 
he recovered his poise and began to think the situa- 
tion over calmly. He had not a particle of doubt 
that the four wires in front of him, stretched between 
the last two poles in the line, constituted a wireless 
aerial. Practically this stood at the very summit 
of the mountain. Located in such a secluded spot, 
the chance of discovery was almost nil. Only by the 
merest accident had its existence become known. 
The secrecy of the plan made Lem certain that there 
was something wrong about it. Uncle Sam would 
have no reason to hide a radio outfit in this fashion. 
The longer Lem considered the matter, the more cer- 
tain he became that this was an enemy alien wire- 
less plant. The circumstances were too similar to 
the situation that had existed at the Elk City reser- 
voir to permit any doubt. 

Satisfied as to the nature of the outfit, Lem began 
to consider what he ought to do. He felt certain 
that he had not been discovered, and he knew it was 


205 


206 


THE HIDDEN AERIAL 


of the utmost importance that he should remain 
undetected. So long as the spies — if spies they 
really were — thought that they were undiscovered, 
they would go forward with their work. Then they 
could be watched and captured, just as the dyna- 
miters had been caught at Elk City. Also Lem knew 
that he must tell Mr. Granby at once; so he began 
to make his way cautiously down the mountain. He 
was very careful where he stepped, walking so far 
as possible on the leaves where he would leave no 
noticeable footprint, or stepping along on the bare 
rocks in the path. 

Almost before he knew it Lem reached the foot 
of the mountain and turned up-stream to seek the 
fallen tree on which he had crossed. With surprise 
he noticed that the creek was considerably higher 
than it had been when he last saw it. Then he had 
walked along the narrow level margin that fringed 
the stream. But now he had to pick his way along 
on the sloping foot of the hill. When he reached 
the fallen tree, where the creek ran between high and 
narrow banks, he was amazed ; for, not being able to 
spread out, the stream had risen until the water 
almost touched the prostrate tree. Already it was 
eddying around its butt, sucking away at its roots, 
and little by little tearing away the rain-softened 
ground that still held their landward ends. In fact, 
the spreading base of the great tree was already 
awash, and in the rush of the current the old elm was 
beginning to quiver. 


BREAKING THE JAM 


207 


Lem examined the situation carefully before trust- 
ing himself on the treacherous foot-bridge. His 
weight might complete the work of the stream and 
tear the few roots that remained unbroken entirely 
free from the supporting bank. Then the great butt 
would sink into the flood, the tree be snatched into 
the torrent, and Lem himself engulfed with it. Cau- 
tiously, therefore, he tested the matter, putting only 
part of his weight on the tree butt at first. When he 
found it held, he stepped on the great butt, freed his 
feet of all entangling rootlets, took a good look be- 
fore him, and ran swiftly across the quivering trunk. 
A second after his foot touched land, there was a 
tremendous splash behind him, the great butt slid 
into the stream, the tree top suddenly rose upward, 
and Lem barely had time to dive to the ground and 
free himself from the entangling branches before the 
great tree was dragged backward into the flood, the 
spreading branches raking Lem like a harrow, as the 
noble elm was engulfed and dragged down by the 
raging torrent. 

Lem picked himself up and looked at the roaring 
river. He was pale and his heart was beating like a 
trip-hammer. As he looked at the wild waves, heard 
the crashing of the rapids, saw the great, suck- 
ing swirls rush by, he realized as he never had before 
the awful power of water. And he realized, too, how 
narrow had been his escape. To be sure, Lem could 
swim; but whether he could swim in such a torrent 


208 


THE HIDDEN AERIAL 


he knew not. And he felt almost certain that had he 
been drawn down with the tree, its terrible arms, 
whirling over and over in the water, would have 
clubbed him into insensibility. Now he understood 
the full meaning of what A1 Jordan, their old cook at 
Camp Brady, had done in breaking up a log jam 
when it was almost certain he would be engulfed in 
the resulting rush of logs, and when he had had a leg 
pinched off by two sawlogs. If being entrapped in 
a tree top seemed so terrible, what would it be to be 
caught among hundreds of wildly tossing sawlogs! 
Lem shuddered at the thought and turned away 
from the stream. 

Pulling himself together, he sped along the bank 
of the creek. But the high water greatly hindered 
his progress. Where he had previously walked on 
the flat, level turf, with nothing but the dripping 
grass to wet him, the turbid river now rolled, in 
places two feet deep. So Lem had to hug the foot of 
the hill, and in places where this was precipitous, 
even to wade in the water. 

Lem knew that the camp stood on slightly higher 
ground, but he believed that by this time the water 
would be well up to the camp site. The boys, he 
knew, would be hurrying to get the tents and bed- 
ding and furniture moved to higher ground before 
the water reached them. If the creek continued to 
rise as it had been rising, every hand would be needed 
to get things moved in time. That meant that he 


BREAKING THE JAM 


209 


was needed. So Lem broke into a sharp run, still 
skirting the hill and splashing through the water in 
the low places. When he came in sight of the camp, 
he saw, to his astonishment, that the place was de- 
serted. Not a soul was in sight. And though the 
water had not yet risen above the camp site, it was 
perilously close to it. For a moment Lem was dumb- 
founded. Then he understood. Something serious 
had happened. All hands had been called away. He 
must be needed, too. With redoubled energy Lem 
dashed on down the valley, forgetting the perilous 
situation of the camp in his speculations as to what 
might have happened. Whatever it was, Lem felt 
sure it had to do with the flood. 

Once past the foothills that shut in the camp, Lem 
saw immediately where the trouble was. Half-way 
to the river, perhaps, he saw a group of men and boys 
beside the creek. He could tell that they were work- 
ing desperately at something, though he could not 
distinguish what it was. He ran as fast as he could 
go. As he drew near, he slackened his pace to re- 
cover his breath. And now he saw plainly enough 
what was wrong. 

The fields bordering the creek at this point were 
low. One contained Mr. Henderson’s oats. The 
other was the corn field of a neighbor, Mr. Rawlins. 
Barbed wire fences here ran at right angles to the 
creek, extending on each side entirely to the water’s 
edge. Some trees had sprung up along these fence- 


210 


THE HIDDEN AERIAL 


rows, and at the end of each fence, on the sloping 
bank of the creek, stood a little cluster of good-sized 
oaks. Midway of the stream and almost between 
these groups of trees was an enormous boulder, half 
as big as a house. In ordinary water it towered 
many feet above the current. Now its top was 
barely visible. Caught between this boulder and 
the trees on Mr. Henderson’s side of the creek was 
the little foot-bridge that had been built when the 
pipe line was laid. Between the trees on Mr. Raw- 
lins’ and this central boulder an uprooted oak-tree 
was wedged, its broken arms jammed tight around 
the midstream boulder, its great butt held firmly 
by the creek-side trees. Debris of every sort was 
packed and jammed behind these two obstructions. 
Sawlogs, broken limbs of trees, old boxes, pieces of 
board, planks, fence rails, posts, uprooted saplings, 
and a multitude of other objects were here lodged 
in inextricable confusion. Some of the current had 
sucked downward, so that only their tops stood out 
of water. Others had been thrown bodily upward 
and almost clear of the stream. Great planks stood 
on end. Some sawlogs had been driven half through 
the pile. The entire mass was jammed and pinned 
and woven together so solidly it seemed as though 
it would be impossible ever to get the pieces sepa- 
rated. From the bed of the creek to a point well 
above the water this mass extended, held by the 
foot-bridge on one side and the great tree on the 
other, thus damming the creek like a flood-gate. 


BREAKING THE JAM 


211 


Nor was this all. As the stream rose and the water 
began to back up over the banks, floating debris was 
carried to right and left and solidly jammed against 
the wire fences. With every minute the size of the 
obstruction grew and with every minute the rush of 
water came stronger. For the flood had not yet 
reached its crest. 

All this Lem saw at a glance as he picked his way 
through the flooded fleld toward the group at the 
danger point. For danger point it was. Unless the 
jam could be broken, the rising water would sooner 
or later sweep through one field or the other. As it 
was, both crops were endangered. In either field the 
flood was now running over the bare ground. As yet 
it was hardly more than ankle-deep. But every 
minute the water was rising. And every inch it rose 
increased the danger. Little by little the top-soil, 
the richest and best part of the fertile land, was 
swirling away down-stream as mud. With every 
inch that the flood deepened, the current tore harder 
at the loose earth. Already both fields were flooded 
hundreds of feet back from the water’s edge. It 
needed only a slight additional rise to cover them 
completely. Then both the oats and the corn would 
be under water. The rushing current would break 
down the oats, bury the straw and grain under the 
mud, and cause a total loss of the crop. The corn, 
too, wQuld be seriously endangered. 

The key to the entire situation lay in the tree and 


212 


THE HIDDEN AERIAL 


the foot-bridge. Could one or both be moved, the 
mass of debris would be swept down-stream, the 
water would recede, and the danger be averted. 
But to remove either obstructing bar was both dffi- 
cult and dangerous. The tree was a massive oak, 
as hard as iron. The foot-bridge was made of two 
good-sized logs, one of which was now buried be- 
neath the water. Men were chopping at both ob- 
structions as Lem came up, and some of his comrades 
were wading about in the water in the fields, trying 
to remove the obstructing materials from the wire 
fences. The larger boys were at work on the shore 
ends of the obstructions, and Lem saw that they were 
taking turns with the men in wielding the axes. 

Lem reported at once to his leader. ‘‘ I’m fresh, 
sir,” he said. Let me take a hand at an axe.” 

All right,” said Mr. Granby, resuming his chop- 
ping. You relieve Jimmy.” 

Lem took the axe and fell to work. Mr. Granby 
was chopping at the end of the foot-bridge next to 
the midstream boulder. On the other side of the 
boulder Mr. Henderson and Mr. Rawlins were at 
work. 

Chop ! chop ! chop ! ” went the axes. The chips 
flew to right and left. How Lem blessed the day he 
had spent chopping wood at State College ! He knew 
how to drive his blade deep and true. He under- 
stood just how great an angle to give each stroke to 
get the most out of his swing. He was strong, and 


BREAKING THE JAM 


213 


what was more, he was long and rangy. He could 
drive his axe with terrific force. He put his whole 
heart into his work. Every stroke went true and his 
steel bit deeper and deeper into the log. Stroke for 
stroke he kept pace with the men beside him. But 
Mr. Granby had the start and cut through his end 
of the log first. 

^‘Look out! ” he called. ‘M’m through.’^ 

Lem stepped on the shoreward end of the log and 
continued his chopping. In a few minutes he, too, 
finished his cut, and the top log of the foot-bridge 
was loose. Even so, the debris was so tightly 
jammed about it that the log could not at first be 
loosened. Only by hard and difficult work did they 
succeed in getting it free. Then it went whirling 
down-stream, while the choppers bent their atten- 
tion to getting its submerged fellow loose. 

This second log was well under water. The shore- 
ward end was embedded in the creek bank far below 
the surface of the stream. The other end was lodged 
against the rock, but was slightly submerged. A 
rope was passed under this end and worked up 
through the debris. But the choppers might as well 
have tried to pull the mountain as to budge the log. 
Thousands of gallons of water pressing against this 
obstruction held the log in its place as firmly as 
though it had been riveted there. Mr. Granby 
seized an axe and tried to chop the log but gave it up. 
The log was too far under water for effective work. 


214 THE HIDDEN AERIAL 

Stepping to the rock, he called across to Mr. Hender- 
son. 

Got a one-man cross-cut saw? 

His shouted words barely carried above the roar 
of the flood, but Mr. Henderson caught his question, 
and cupping his hands to his mouth, shouted back his 
answer. 

^^Run to the shed, Jimmy,’’ yelled Mr. Granby, 
and bring the little cross-cut saw.” 

Jimmy darted off through the flooded oats field, 
making astonishing speed under the circumstances. 
While he was gone, Lem got his breath and took 
another look at the situation. Even since his arrival 
the stream had risen appreciably. The water flow- 
ing over the fields, that had run with gentle flow 
when he arrived, was now sweeping over them in 
turbulent ripples, and digging deeper and deeper in- 
to the soil. His fellows still labored to remove the 
obstructions from the fences. When he came they 
had stood ankle-deep. Now they were in water 
half-way to their knees. Lem looked at the mass 
he was trying to free. It had grown appreciably 
larger. Every minute sticks and stumps and boards 
and other pieces of driftwood were added to the bar- 
rier. As it grew thicker, it held the water back more 
effectively. And as the pressure increased, the mass 
creaked and groaned and moved in a manner sinister 
and terrifying. Lem could not help thinking of the 
fate he had escaped when he crossed the creek on the 


BREAKING THE JAM 


215 


fallen elm, and of the terrible experience of A1 Jor- 
dan when he broke the log jam. He shuddered at the 
thought, for should the mass behind him move for- 
ward before he could escape, he might be ground to 
pieces. 

Then Jimmy came back with the saw. It had to 
be gotten from the shore to the midstream end of 
the log. Lem started after it, walking on the sub- 
merged log. But as that sloped downward, the 
water speedily grew deep. So he crawled gingerly 
on the pile of debris and as gingerly continued on his 
way. The mass creaked and groaned, and try as he 
would, Lem could not keep from his heart the fear 
that the barrier would suddenly break and he would 
be engulfed. But he made the journey in safety, 
bringing the saw back with him. 

Mr. Granby at once set to work to cut the log near 
the boulder. He had to saw up and down, like a man 
cutting ice. The wet wood cut hard. To make the 
saw bite into it, he had to throw all his power into 
each stroke. It was exhausting work. After a very 
short trick at the saw he called upon Lem to relieve 
him, for it was essential that the saw be kept going 
at top speed. Ever the water was creeping higher. 
So they sawed, first one and then the other, in short 
tricks. An inch they cut into the submerged log, 
then two inches, then three. It seemed to Lem that 
the task would never end, — the wood was so hard, 
the saw cut so slowly, the effort at every stroke was 
so intense. 


ne 


THE HIDDEN AERIAL 


In his rest periods Lem watched the men at work 
on the oak. They were making even slower progress 
than he and Mr. Granby were. If the jam were 
broken, Lem felt sure it would be broken on his side 
of the boulder. 

And now, with every passing moment, the pile of 
debris creaked and groaned the louder. It writhed 
under the pressure of the current. To Lem it seemed 
like an aggregation of some awful beasts of prey, 
waiting for the chase, and fuming at their detention. 
And presently he conceived the idea that the logs at 
his back were waiting to spring on him. 

He stood on the rock watching Mr. Granby as the 
latter sawed steadily away. Suddenly there was a 
crack. The log began to part. The mass quivered. 

Ashore with you, quick ! ” shouted Mr. Granby, 
leaping toward the land. 

Lem sprang after him but paused midway. The 
mass had settled down. The motion had ceased. 
The jam had not broken. The log still held. A few 
more saw cuts were necessary. 

White-faced, Lem stood on the quivering mass. 
He knew he ought to go back, but the awful fear of 
the logs held him. He tried to get a grip on himself, 
but he could think of nothing but that terrible mass 
of logs pounding him to a pulp. He seemed para- 
lyzed, unable to move. 

Then an agonized voice thundered above the flood. 
'' For God’s sake, hurry! She’s cutting through the 
field! ” 


Lem put every ounce of power into his strokes. 




BREAKING THE JAM 


217 


Farmer Henderson had seen what nobody else had 
noticed. The creek was beginning to make a new 
channel for itself. If it succeeded, not only his crops 
but acres and acres of Mr. Henderson’s best land 
would be lost. 

The cry roused Lem like an electric shock. His 
hesitation fell from him like a cloak. He crushed 
down his fear and leaped back to the rock. He knew 
that when the mass started, it would sweep over the 
rock and perhaps take him with it. But his duty 
was plain. 

Like a flash he picked up the abandoned saw, 
planted himself firmly over the log and put every 
ounce of power into his strokes. Rip ! Rip ! Rip ! ” 
went the saw. 

Under his feet Lem felt the mass quiver and 
tremble for the leap. 

“ Rip ! Rip ! Rip ! ” sang the saw again. 

The quiver increased. The mass behind him 
shivered and groaned. 

Rip! ” 

With a crash the log broke, the pile moved con- 
vulsively, and then the whole mass seemed to leap 
at Lem. But he was quicker than the stream. Like 
lightning he dropped the saw and sprang for the solid 
oak on the other side of the rock. Even as he leaped, 
the grinding mass shot forward and surged past the 
rock. Planks were hurled clear over it. Sawlogs 
knocked together hard enough to break a tree in 


218 


THE HIDDEN AERIAL 


half. With a power incalculable the mass rolled and 
twisted and writhed under the force of the current. 
It would have ground any living thing to pulp. But 
Lem was safe. He cleared the rock as the first logs 
shot over it, ran like a startled deer across the still 
solid oak and reached the farther bank. He had 
broken the jam. He had saved the farm. 


CHAPTER XX 


A WET WEATHER PICNIC 

W ITH a terrific roar and crash half of the ob- 
structing mass of debris swept through the 
opened passageway and went whirling down-stream. 
Rapidly the water receded from the fields, until soon 
the stream was entirely within its banks. A hasty 
examination showed that the damage inflicted was 
much less than had been anticipated. The jam had 
been broken in time. 

As soon as he was assured that his field was safe 
and his oats not badly injured, Mr. Henderson came 
straightway to Lem. 

Young man,” he said, as he wrung Lem’s hand, 
“ I wasn’t very keen about having a lot of school- 
boys work here, and I took you on only because I 
couldn’t get another living soul. But no set of men 
could have done me more service. You boys have 
saved both my wheat and my oats. I shall never 
forget what you have done for me. And I want to 
say that you are one of the bravest lads I ever saw.” 

Lem grasped with pleasure Mr. Henderson’s ex- 
tended hand and returned his strong pressure. I 


219 


220 


THE HIDDEN AERIAL 


am glad we saved your grain, Mr. Henderson, he 
said, “ but I am not as brave as you think. I was 
more afraid of that jam than I ever was of anything 
in my life before.” 

If you were afraid and still did what you did, 
then what I said is true. You are a brave boy. The 
finest kind of bravery is the kind that overcomes 
fear.” 

Lem was embarrassed by Mr. Henderson’s praise, 
and Mr. Henderson saw it. So he said no more 
about the matter. Instead he turned toward the re- 
maining half of the jam, the mass of debris still held 
back by the tree trunk. 

^^We won’t attempt to cut it now,” he said. 

There’s no use running unnecessary risk. When 
the creek gets back to its normal height we can saw 
the tree and get some good fire-wood out of it.” 

What are we to do to-day? ” asked Lem. 

Things are too wet to do anything out-of-doors,” 
said Mr. Henderson, “ and just now there isn’t much 
to do indoors. How would you boys like to have a 
wet weather picnic? ” 

We’d like it fine,” laughed Lem, ^Though I really 
do not know exactly what a ^ wet weather picnic ’ is.” 

^'Well,” said Mr. Henderson, ''we’ll have the 
women pack us some grub and we’ll go down to the 
river and bob for eels. It’s pretty near time for ’em 
to begin to run and they ought to bite good in this 
muddy water. We’ll go get some worms the first 
thing. You tell the other boys.” 


A WET WEATHER PICNIC 


221 


Lem soon communicated the good news to his fel- 
lows and there was a rush for the barnyard to dig 
worms. While some of the boys were securing bait, 
Lem and Charley went to cut sticks to bob with. 
They obtained a number of little poles that either 
curved semicircularly at one end or had curving 
branches. While they were searching for the sticks, 
Lem asked Charley if he had yet told Mr. Henderson 
about the plot to ruin some of the machinery. 

‘^No,^’ said Charley, “but Idl tell him on this very 
trip.^^ 

“ Don't forget," cautioned Lem. “ I don’t want 
his machines injured, and after what he said to me a 
while ago I’d hate like sixty to have anything happen 
to make him think I could do such a trick.’’ 

When they had secured enough sticks of the proper 
size and shape, Lem and Charley went to the barn- 
yard to see how the worm diggers were progressing. 
Meantime Mrs. Henderson had been packing a sub- 
stantial lunch. 

When all was in readiness, the party made their 
way to the fine, broad estuary of the creek. On this 
sheltered sheet of water Mr. Henderson and his 
neighbors kept their boats. These had been drawn 
out on the shore when the creek had started to rise 
and so had escaped damage by the rush of logs. Now 
they were emptied of water and put overboard. 
There were enough boats to accommodate the entire 
party. Good oarsmen were selected for each boat, 


222 


THE HIDDEN AERIAL 


and the little flotilla pushed out of the estuary into 
the great river. 

Evidently the rain had been general, for the Sus- 
quehanna, too, was swollen and muddy. It was no 
longer a stream of shining water, but a great river of 
mud. No longer through its crystal waters could 
one see the stony bed over which it swept. Every 
creek and rivulet for miles around had been pouring 
into it a muddy flood. And the resemblance to cof- 
fee was heightened by the bubbling, boiling, swirling 
current. Yet the river was not so swollen as to make 
it unsafe to venture on it. The great stream still 
rolled deep within its high bluff-like banks. But for 
catching eels the conditions were perfect. 

The little flotilla made its way along the shore, 
since it was impossible to bob for eels in very deep 
water. At Mr. Henderson’s suggestion the boats 
anchored, one at a time, until the fleet was strung 
out over a space of several hundred yards. The oars 
were shipped and the fishermen prepared for busi- 
ness. 

The bobs had been prepared before the boys en- 
tered the boats, the worms being strung on long 
threads and the threads wrapped in little loops or 
rosettes, which were fastened so that they dangled 
a few inches from the ends of the sticks. These 
sticks had of necessity to be short. 

Now each boy lowered his stick until the end 
touched the river bed. That allowed the ball of 


A WET WEATHER PICNIC 


223 


worms to lie on the bottom a few inches from the 
stick. Some of the boys had never before fished for 
eels in this way. 

How shall I know when I get a bite? demanded 
little Johnnie Lee, who was new to the game. 

How do you know when you get a bite at any 
time? replied Tom Sheppard. ‘‘You’ll know, all 
right. You just jerk up your bait when you feel 
something pulling on it.” 

“ But what’s to catch the eel if he does bite? ” 
asked Johnnie. “ There’s no hook to hold him.” 

“ That’s where the fun comes in,” said Tom. 
“ His teeth will catch in the threads and hold him for 
a second or two. You’ve got to get him into the boat 
before he gets loose.” 

“ Gee ! ” yelled Johnnie. “ There’s a bite now.” 

He jerked his stick out of water so savagely that 
he tore the looped thread fairly out of the mouth of 
a big eel that dropped from his lure and splashed 
back into the muddy river. Johnnie began to la- 
ment. 

“ Forget it and try again,” advised Tom. “ Don’t 
be so savage next time. Just lift your eel — that 
way.” 

As he spoke he raised his stick swiftly but smooth- 
ly and swung it over the boat. A two-pound eel 
dropped fairly in the craft. 

“ See how it’s done? ” laughed Tom. “ Just as 
easy as pie.” 


224 


THE HIDDEN AERIAL 


It was anything but easy to subdue the eel, once 
it was landed. Their boat had low sides. There was 
still some water in its bottom. The uninjured eel 
glanced about the craft like a streak of lightning. 
Everybody was afraid it would get over the side and 
be lost. The scramble to capture the creature threat- 
ened to upset the boat. Four boys were in the boat 
and each one clutched desperately at the slippery 
eel as it squirmed past his feet, streaking from one 
end of the boat to the other. Finally Tom grabbed 
it with a piece of old rag, and squeezing it tight, 
lifted and dropped it into a burlap bag. 

Hurrah ! ” shouted Johnnie. This is more fun 
than a bushel of monkeys. Here goes for another.^^ 
The boat quieted down and four sticks were again 
thrust over the sides. Presently George Martin 
lifted an eel aboard. Its teeth were so tangled in the 
threads that it could not immediately shake itself 
loose. Quick as a flash Tom opened the sack and 
held it under the eel. George lifted the creature to 
lower it into the bag. The eel gave a tremendous 
flop which loosened its teeth from the threads and at 
the same time flung itself fairly over the side of the 
boat. George was wide-eyed with astonishment. 

Well, I’ll be switched,” he said. What do you 
think of that? ” 

I think,” said Tom laughing, “ that you’ll learn, 
like Johnnie. Next time slide him into your bag 
instead of lifting him up. You give an eel an inch 
and he’ll take several rods.” 


A WET WEATHER PICNIC 


225 


“ Well,” said little Johnnie, who was somewhat 
consoled by George’s misfortune, “the team is bat- 
ting better than three hundred, anyway. That ain’t 
a bad average.” 

“ We’ll have to bat better than that,” said Tom, 
“ if we are going to lead this league.” 

Sounds coming from other boats indicated the 
truth of Tom’s remarks. In one boat after another 
arose a little uproar as the first eel was brought 
aboard. 

Presently Mr. Granby’s deep voice came echoing 
over the water. 

“ If you want to catch any eels, you fellows will 
have to keep quiet, particularly with your feet and 
your bobbing sticks.” 

The flotilla was suddenly silent. Now and then 
little commotions were heard in this boat or that, 
and the sound of suppressed laughter frequently 
floated over the water. But for the most part the 
little fleet now fished in silence. When Mr. Hender- 
son said the eels ought to be running he told the 
truth. Either they had already started, or were 
about to start, their fall pilgrimage to the sea. Seem- 
ingly the river was full of them. They were plump 
and fat and just prime for eating. First one boat 
and then another landed an eel. With twenty-six 
fisherman the count ran up rapidly. By the time they 
were tired of the sport, probably seventy-five eels 
had been taken and a great many more had been 
lost. 


226 


THE HIDDEN AERIAL 


Then Mr. Henderson gave the signal to lift anchor. 
He led the way and the five other boats dropped 
into line behind him. Thus the little fleet made its 
way back to the sheltered estuary. The boys were 
glad to get there, for by this time the skies were clear 
again and the summer sun was pouring down hotly. 

Long before this all the driftwood had been swept 
from the mouth of the little creek. The river, grad- 
ually rising, had checked the rapid current of the 
creek, until, in the estuary, the backed-up creek 
water was almost motionless. But farther up- 
stream the creek still continued its rapid course. A 
grassy spot was found along the bank, and although 
the turf was still wet it was not muddy. A fire-place 
was made of stones and the boys sent out to forage 
for dry wood. Thanks to their training in wood- 
craft the Camp Brady boys knew where to look for 
fuel. They quickly secured the dry inner bark from 
some of the water-side birches, and gathered dead 
twigs and branches that still hung from the parent 
trees and that were hardly more than dampened by 
the great rain. In a little while sufficient fuel had 
been collected and a fire started. 

While some of the boys were thus gathering wood, 
others were skinning eels. By the time the eels were 
ready to cook the fire had burned down to a hot bed 
of coals. Mr. Henderson produced two skillets and 
a coffee-pot from his pack and soon the savory odor 
of frying eels and boiling coffee whetted the edges of 
appetites that were already sharp. 


A WET WEATHER PICNIC <m 

Meantime some logs had been found, the upper 
sides of which were already practically dried out by 
the fierce sun. These were dragged into the shade 
and fashioned into a great circle. And here, seated 
in a ring, the boys from the Liberty Camp ate their 
dinner of piping hot eels and sandwiches and pie and 
coffee. 

The little picnic had been so enjoyable that every- 
body hated to see it end. But end it had to, and 
after the dishes were cleaned and the still-hot coals 
extinguished, the party slowly made its way back to 
camp. 

In little groups they walked along the bank of the 
creek, watching with interest for marks of the flood. 
Mr. Henderson packed the dishes. Charley Russell 
came up to assist. While the two stowed things in 
Mr. Henderson’s big basket, Charley told the farmer 
about Lem and Frank Anderson and the latter’s 
present scheme. 

Mr. Henderson’s face grew blacker and blacker 
as the recital proceeded. 

The infernal scoundrel ! ” he said. “ To try to 
harm as fine a lad as your friend Haskins! I’ll go 
fire the skunk off the place at once and put an end 
to the business.” 

If you please,” said Charley, I am sure Lem 
would not like that. All he has done has been 
for the sake of helping the country to raise food. 
I know he considers personal matters of less impor- 


228 


THE HIDDEN AERIAL 


tance than the interests of the country. That is 
why he has put up with all that Anderson has done. 
If Anderson leaves the squad, a number of fellows 
will go with him. How many I don’t know, but four 
at least, and I think six or eight. He has a wonder- 
ful hold on his friends. Wouldn’t it be better not to 
drive Anderson out of the squad, but merely to take 
steps to prevent him from doing harm? Can the 
farmers here get along without six or eight of us? ” 

You are right,” said Mr. Henderson. I don’t 
know how we are going to get our crops harvested 
as it is. Even you twenty-four boys don’t make up 
for the farm-hands we have lost since the war began, 
and we are losing more hands every day. Also we 
are cultivating more land than we were then. I am 
afraid we are going to lose part of our crops any- 
way. With a third of you boys gone, we’d just 
about be ruined. But I think I know how to settle 
the matter. You leave it to me.” 

Mr. Anderson picked up his basket and started 
off alone, his eye running from group to group of the 
retiring lads. Speedily he saw what he was looking 
for — Frank Anderson and his two friends, Roger 
and Clarence. The three were inseparable. Straight 
after them strode Mr. Henderson, as fast as he could 
go with the big basket. 

Mr. Anderson,” he said, when he had nearly over- 
taken the trio. '' I have a message for you. Will 
you please come here a moment? ” 


A WET WEATHER PICNIC 


229 


Frank left his comrades, who went on. He came 
back to Mr. Henderson, who had put his basket on 
the ground and was waiting for him. But instead 
of handing Frank a message Mr. Henderson said: 
“Frank, you remember that you three boys were 
sent out of the wheat-field the other day to rest. 
I wasn’t so far off as you thought, when you were 
down under the trees. I know some of the things 
that were said there. I have made some inquiries 
about matters and I have learned of your differences 
with Lem Haskins. But I didn’t get any informa- 
tion from him. In fact, he does not know that I 
know anything about this matter. I have nothing to 
say about that quarrel. It’s none of my business 
whom you quarrel with or what you quarrel about. 
But when it comes to ruining my machinery, that is 
my business. We farmers don’t want our machinery 
harmed and we don’t intend to have it harmed. If 
harm comes, we shall know whom to hold respon- 
sible.” 

For the moment Frank was nonplussed. The bolt 
had come out of such a clear sky that it found him 
absolutely unready. His usual assurance momen- 
tarily deserted him. For once he had no reply ready. 
But, characteristically, he began to hate Mr. Hen- 
derson and to wish to harm him. Mr. Henderson 
said good-by and went briskly on. He was well 
enough satisfied. He had protected a lad he liked 
and saved his own property from harm. 


CHAPTER XXI 


A SILENT BATTLE 

M eantime Lem had had time to think over 
his discovery of the early morning. As yet he 
had spoken to no one about it. He was not certain 
as to what he wanted to do in the matter. Never 
for a moment did he doubt that he had found the 
aerial of an enemy wireless line. No more did he 
question that the spies who put it up were working 
to destroy the great munitions plant in Central 
City. The one fact almost followed the other. If 
the line was a spy line, then it was almost certain 
that it was erected for the purpose of aiding in the 
destruction of the munitions plant. The dozens and 
scores of explosions and bomb outrages in other 
munitions plants in different parts of the country 
left no room for doubt in the matter. 

But what was the immediate purpose of the wire- 
less line? Surely the men hidden on the mountain, 
if men were hidden there, could not be there for the 
purpose of spying on the factory. They were too 
far away to do that, even with powerful glasses. 
And besides, if spies were needed to examine the 


230 


A SILENT BATTLE 


231 


interior of the place, an effort would undoubtedly be 
made to corrupt some of the employees of the 
plant so that they would either give the desired 
information themselves or allow some one else to 
procure it. What, then, could these men be doing, 
hidden away thus on the mountain — for Lem 
never doubted they were so hidden? Lem could not 
guess, and after a time he gave up the problem 
entirely. 

The matter for him to decide was what he should 
do. Then the thought came into his mind, Why 
do anything at all? Did not the munitions factory 
belong to the father of his worst enemy? Was he 
not growing richer than ever through the work that 
went on in his mills? Was it true, as charged, that 
such men as he grew richer while the common people 
of the country grew poorer? Lem thought of his 
own poverty, of the hardships he and his mother had 
so long endured, of the terrible struggles they had 
had merely to get enough food to eat, sufficient 
clothes to cover their bodies, and a roof over their 
heads, while Mr. Anderson and his family fairly 
wallowed in wealth. He thought of the years during 
which his poverty must continue before he could 
make his way in the world and earn the comforts he 
craved for his mother and himself. For Lem never 
doubted that he would earn these things. He had 
set his heart on success. With all his strength he 
was determined to win financial independence. 


232 


THE HIDDEN AERIAL 


And he did not doubt that he would succeed. Lem 
had learned many things in the hard school of 
experience. One thing was that everything has its 
price and that he who is willing to pay the price 
can get what he wants. Lem was ready to pay the 
price for financial success. He was willing to toil 
and work and struggle and deny himself. And he 
knew that if he did that he must succeed. But the 
struggle and the sacrifice would be hard. They 
meant more of the same grinding poverty, years and 
years more of it, before he could finish his schooling 
and get a start in the world. And meantime Frank 
Anderson would live on the fat of the land, would 
be surfeited with luxury, would have his every wish 
gratified — largely because of the very work that 
was now going on in that factory on the other side 
of the mountain. 

The old feeling of hatred began to gnaw at his 
heart. He thought of how Frank Anderson had 
scorned him, fiouted him, ridiculed him, and finally 
lied about him and tried to injure him. He thought 
of the vicious plot he was even now engaged in 
that had for its purpose his own undoing. He 
thought of the treacherous way Anderson had chosen 
to hurt him, the method of injuring an innocent 
person in order to reach him. He pictured to him- 
self the conscienceless glee that Frank Anderson 
would feel if he succeeded in fastening the blame for 
the broken machinery on him. Why, he asked 


A SILENT BATTLE 


233 


himself, should he lift a finger to spare the lad or the 
father of the lad who was persecuting him so? 
Why should he? 

Then he thought of what might be entailed if 
he did try to thwart the plot he had discovered. 
He recalled the desperate adventure his fellows had 
had with the German dynamiters at the Elk City 
reservoir. He recounted to himself the story of 
their narrow escape from an awful death at the 
hands of the desperate men they were trying to 
capture. He told himself that any spy was a 
desperate man; that any enemy who would run the 
risk these men on the mountain were running would 
stop at nothing. They could not blow up a factory 
without killing people, perhaps dozens of people. 
They would think nothing of killing a lone boy on a 
secluded mountain. For Lem knew from experience 
that if these men were to be run down and caught, 
the work would have to be done secretly and by a 
few persons. Inevitably he would be one of those 
few. Why should he run this risk — the risk of his 
own life and the risk of leaving his mother in worse 
straits than ever — for the sake of people who 
scorned him and would gladly harm him? Why, 
indeed? 

As he turned the matter over in his mind Lem’s 
face became very black. All the hatred he had ever 
felt for Frank Anderson now found expression there. 
He vowed he would let the factory be blown up. 


234 


THE HIDDEN AERIAL 


Nobody knew that he had discovered the plot. 
Nobody need ever know. He would let things go 
their own course. He would let Mr. Anderson 
protect his own plant. That was his business any- 
way. In no sense was it Lem’s affair. 

But the matter could not be settled so easily. 
Hate Frank as he might, and wish to help him as 
little as he did, Lem could not forget or make himself 
forget that there were other persons to be considered 
besides Frank and himself, other matters to be 
thought of besides their differences. What about 
the government? What about those boys in the 
Argonne forest? What about those lads in Flan- 
ders? They were risking their lives, not once or 
twice but constantly — and risking them for Lem 
himself and his mother. They were depending on 
some of those very shells from Frank Anderson’s 
father’s factory. If the factory blew up and the 
shells failed, it meant death for scores of brave boys 
in the trenches. And what about the men and 
women at work in the factory? An explosion might 
mean death for them, too. 

With a cry as of pain — a cry in which was 
mingled hatred of himself for his momentary weak- 
ness and relief at coming to a decision — Lem ended 
the battle that was raging in his heart and brain. 
Let come what might, let the risk be what it would, 
let the consequences be anything at all, Lem resolved 
to do his duty. He would never rest until the plot 


A SILENT BATTLE 


235 


was uncovered and the spies laid by the heels. And 
unconscious of the fact that in conquering himself 
he had done a bigger thing than he had accomplished 
when he cut the log jam, Lem hastened to seek out 
his leader and lay the matter before him. 


CHAPTER XXII 


A SCOUT OF TWO 

M r. GRANBY heard Lem patiently but was 
obviously incredulous. 

I fear you have been reading too many wild tales 
about German spies/’ he said with a smile when Lem 
finished his story. This is too open a plan to have 
anything Teutonic about it. German spies don’t 
work that way. Any one can go up on that old 
road, just as you did, and see what’s going on. A 
man would be a fool to do his spying in that way. 
He’d be almost certain to be caught.” 

It’s the very openness of the scheme they depend 
upon to hide it,” protested Lem. And it isn’t so 
open as you think, either. Nobody ever travels 
up and down that old skidway unless it might be a 
hunter. The farmers are so busy now they couldn’t 
possibly go into the woods. If they want fire-wood, 
they will cut it nearer home. The hunting season 
won’t be here for months. If we boys hadn’t 
happened to come here to camp. I’ll bet anything 
that line would have not been discovered all summer. 
I don’t know what they want it for, but probably 

236 


A SCOUT OF TWO 


237 


they will have accomplished their work long before 
the summer is over. Then they don’t care who finds 
it.” 

Mr. Granby began to look serious. 

I’m sure I’m right,” persisted Lem. “ It’s just 
like the scheme at the Elk City reservoir, only there 
they had their aerial completely hidden. But then- 
wire to the transmitting instrument went under 
ground like this one.” 

But there was some reason for plotters there,” 
said Mr. Granby. They were trying to blow up 
the reservoir. There’s certainly nothing up in these 
mountains to bring spies here.” 

^^You forget how close we are to Central City,” 
said Lem. I’ll bet it isn’t more than five miles 
from the summit of the mountain to the big muni- 
tions works there.” 

But how could these men here harm the 
munitions plant? It’s fenced in and guarded so 
close that never a soul could get near it.” 

That’s what they thought about the Eddystone 
plant, and the Du Pont plants, and a lot of other 
munitions factories that were blown up. They were 
fenced in and guarded, yet the Germans got them.” 

Mr. Granby meditated a moment. Lem,” he 
said, there may be more in this than I thought, 
though it doesn’t seem possible.” 

There is. Surely there is,” said Lem. 

^‘Very well, then. We won’t take any chances. 
We’ll call in the state police at once.” 


238 


THE HIDDEN AERIAL 


Oh ! you mustn^t do that, sir,’^ protested Lem. 

Mr. Granby looked at his companion sharply. 
“ And why not, pray? he demanded a bit tartly. 

Because, sir, that would merely hinder but not 
prevent their mischief. That was done at Elk City 
and the only result was to warn the spies that we 
were after them. If we arrest these men on the 
mountain, their confederates will take warning and 
try some other plan. What we must do is to find 
out what they are trying to do and then prevent 
them from doing it.^^ 

And how are we to do that, pray, unless we ar- 
rest them? ” 

“ By wireless, sir. We can catch the messages 
that come to them and read them. Then we shall 
know what to do.” 

If we could do it,” said Mr. Granby dubiously, 
“ that would doubtless be exactly the thing.” 

“Oh! We can, we can,” protested Lem. “Any 
of the boys of the Wireless Patrol could do it. We 
can all read wireless messages easily. The difficulty 
will be to decipher them.” 

“ What would you do? ” demanded Mr. Granby. 

“ First of all,” said Lem, his eyes beginning to 
sparkle, “ I’d keep the matter quiet. If you put it 
in my hands, I wouldn’t tell a soul about the situa- 
tion excepting the ones we absolutely need to do the 
wo^. If the camp knew about it, you’d have 
twenty-four boys prowling along the mountain in 


A SCOUT OF TWO 


239 


no time and the jig would be up. There must be 
absolute secrecy to start with.’^ 

“ What would you do next? ” 

“ I’d set a wireless watch and I’d locate their cave 
or hut and watch them.” 

And where would you get the force necessary to 
do this? Your boys are the only ones in camp who 
know anything about wireless, and besides we need 
every boy we’ve got, and more, too, to get the crops 
in.” 

I forgot about the crops. Suppose you let 
Jimmy and me do some scouting this evening. 
Maybe we can find out something that will help us 
to decide what to do.” 

Very well. You and Jimmy may prowl about all 
you like. But be sure you don’t get hurt or into 
trouble, and report to me as soon as you find any- 
thing of importance.” 

Already the day was drawing to a close. Lem 
hunted up his friend at once and told him what he 
had discovered. As Lem unfolded his plan, Jimmy’s 
face took on an eager expression. By the time Lem 
had done speaking, Jimmy was so keen to start on 
the expedition that he could hardly restrain his im- 
patience while the necessary preparations were made. 

Although it was midsummer, the boys got their 
sweaters. They did not know how long they would 
be gone on their scout. Perhaps they would not re- 
turn for hours, and former experience had shown 


240 


THE HIDDEN AERIAL 


them how cold the midnight woods can be, even in 
summer. The cook made them up some bulky pack- 
ages of sandwiches. Then they put their flash-lights 
into their pockets, and quietly bidding good-by to 
their leader, slipped away from camp unobserved. 

Once well away from their fellows, the two scouts 
paused to discuss the situation. 

I think,’’ said Jimmy, that if we could get across 
the creek there, the best plan would be to follow 
your trail of this morning up to the notch to the 
aerial. Then we could trace the buried wire directly 
to their cave or hut.” 

That would be all right,” said Lem, but night’s 
coming pretty fast. It would be dark before we 
reached the aerial. If we can cut straight up the side 
of the mountain, instead of going way up the creek 
before ascending, we’ll save lots of time.” 

That’s right,” agreed Jimmy. But where can 
we get across the creek? ” 

They made their way along the muddy margin of 
the stream. Almost as rapidly as it had risen, it had 
fallen again. Now the flood had receded until the 
water, though still well above its previous midsum- 
mer level, was low enough to permit them to effect 
a crossing. The rocks on which the original crossing 
had been made by Tom and Johnnie, when they 
found the spring, were just peeping out of water. 
They were wet and slippery, and a leap from one to 
another of them might end in a muddy bath. But 


A SCOUT OF TWO 


241 


there was now no danger of anything worse. So the 
two boys decided to chance it. 

Just as Jimmy was about to make the initial leap 
Lem caught sight of some long poles that the flood 
had lodged near them on the bank. 

Wait, Jimmy/^ he said, and ran and got two of 
the poles. With these the boys easily vaulted from 
rock to rock and were able to keep their footing on 
the slippery surfaces. Once across the creek they 
laid the poles in the bushes where they could find 
them on their return, and struck up the mountain. 
They made their way along the path that had been 
trodden when the pipes were carried up for the water 
line. 

Not a word, Jimmy,” cautioned Lem. “ And be 
very careful where you step. If we get separated, 
use our old signals.” 

In single file, Lem leading, the two boys noise- 
lessly ascended the mountain. Thanks to the tread 
of the many feet that had preceded them along the 
path, the ground was compacted. There were no 
loose stones or pebbles to turn under their feet or go 
rolling noisily down the hill. So, with their sweaters 
tied loosely over their backs and their hands free, 
the two scouts cautiously and swiftly made their 
way. The steepness of the grade soon set them to 
puffing, and it became necessary to halt now and 
then to recover their breath. Yet in an amazingly 
short time they were nearing the great spring. Nor 


242 


THE HIDDEN AERIAL 


was it any too soon. Under the foliage it was already 
dusk. They had approached to within two hundred 
feet of the spring, perhaps, when Lem turned to 
whisper to Jimmy. But his message was never de- 
livered. For sharp and loud through the twilight 
stillness came a distinct clink, as of metal striking 
metal. Without a word Lem grasped Jimmy by the 
shoulder and pulled him to the ground. And there, 
prone on the rocky slope, the two boys lay staring 
into the dusk and listening with bated breath. 

Several times the metallic clink was repeated. 
Then faintly was heard a swashing sound as though 
water were being stirred. Lem slid down to his com- 
panion, and putting his lips beside the latter’s ear, 
whispered, “ That clinking noise is the same sound 
we heard at camp one night. It is the pipe line and 
it wasn’t rolling stones that made the sound at all. 
I think some one is dipping water from the spring, 
and that he either strikes the pipe with his bucket or 
kicks it with an iron-shod heel. That must have 
been what made the noise before.” 

Jimmy nodded agreement. Then the two lay 
quiet, listening again. The stillness was intense. 
It was at that hour of the day when nature seems to 
go to sleep. The breezes that during the daylight 
hours agitated the tree tops above them, had now 
sunk to rest. No longer did the roar of the flood 
ascend from the valley. The little furred and feath- 
ered inhabitants of the woods all had sought their 


A SCOUT OF TWO 


243 


nests. In the silence the boys could almost hear 
their own hearts beat. Through the stillness every 
slightest sound came clear and distinct. 

Presently the two boys heard the scratching of a 
match on a stone. A little later there came to them 
the scent of burning tobacco. Then plainly was 
heard the tread of feet, shuffling uncertainly in the 
deceiving light. 

“ Quick ! ” whispered Lem. “ He's taking water 
to the gang. We must foUow him. But don't make 
a sound." 

Silently the two scouts went on to the spring, ap- 
proaching it with every precaution lest a second 
water carrier might be there. In the gloom they 
could hardly see where they were stepping. No hu- 
man figures were visible about the spring basin, but 
the boys scouted swiftly around it to make certain 
no one was near. Then as swiftly as the fading light 
would permit, they followed after the man with the 
water buckets. 

Under other circumstances this might have been 
a difflcult task. But the man ahead of them, laden 
with his buckets of water, made more noise than he 
otherwise would have made, and it would not have 
been difflcult to trail him through sound alone even 
though he was lost to sight. 

At first he struck directly upward along the 
wooded part of the slope. The boys flitted behind 
him, having almost to feel their way. They were so 


244 


THE HIDDEN AERIAL 


well hidden by intervening trees and the darkness 
that there was no possibility of their being seen. 
Only by making a noise would they betray them- 
selves. So they were able to keep comparatively 
near to the stranger. 

After a time he turned abruptly to the right and 
proceeded along the slope instead of up it. In a 
few rods he came to the edge of the timber and began 
to cross the great area of loose rocks. Here, with no 
leafy covering to shut out the light, he became vis- 
ible. For a long time he remained visible. As the 
boys stood on the very edge of the sheltering forest, 
straining their eyes to see him better, the man 
seemed hardly to move at all. At first the boys were 
puzzled by his slowness. Then they understood. He 
was making his way with the utmost caution, a foot 
at a time, lest he topple a stone from its place and 
start an avalanche that would grind him to pieces. 

Hidden within the gloom of the forest, Jimmy and 
Lem patiently waited in silence for the man to get 
far enough away from them so that they could take 
up the trail. They dared no longer hang close to 
him. Even though it was all but dark, a figure could 
still be seen, in the open, at a considerable distance. 
On the other hand, it was necessary to run some risk 
of detection. If they waited until the stranger had 
completely vanished from sight, they might not be 
able to trail him. His shoes left no telltale prints on 
the bare stones, and even if they had,, the boys would 


A SCOUT OF TWO 


245 


not have dared to use their flash-lights to follow the 
footprints. So they were in a quandary. 

But before they could decide what to do, the mat- 
ter was settled for them. Voices were heard in the 
direction taken by the stranger. Peering sharply 
through the gloom, the two scouts now made out the 
figures of the two men. Evidently the carrier of wa- 
ter had been joined by a companion. 

If they were only in the woods,^^ whispered 
Jimmy, we could creep up close enough to hear 
what they are saying. But we won’t dare venture 
to try it out there.” 

All the lads could do was to keep quiet and await 
developments. Presently the voices in the darkness 
ceased, and in a few moments the two boys made out 
the form of a man coming toward them. 

Quick! ” said Lem. ‘^We must hide where we 
can watch him.” 

Swiftly they drew back into the dark woods. Not 
many rods behind them several good-sized boulders 
lay close together, and close about them rose a num- 
ber of large trees. Quickly they made their way be- 
tween the boulders and crouched. The great stones 
fairly ringed them in, and the big trees formed a 
sort of outer defense. Unless he looked directly into 
their hiding-place, the advancing stranger would 
never discover them. With every nerve stretched 
taut, with their hearts pounding furiously, the two 
boys in the dark waited breathlessly for the ap- 
proach of the spy. 


246 


THE HIDDEN AERIAL 


Slowly the man crossed the stone pile. They 
heard him swear softly to himself. As he entered 
the timber, he gave an exclamation of relief. He 
advanced a few rods through the trees, stumbling 
over roots and stones and cursing to himself. Then 
suddenly a brilliant ray of light illumined his path- 
way. Assured that the heavy timber would effectu- 
ally conceal its beam from distant eyes, the man had 
lighted a powerful electric torch. Guided by this, 
he struck off rapidly and confidently through the 
forest. 

Follow him, Jimmy,’^ whispered Lem, and see 
what he does. I’ll trail the other fellow. Go straight 
to camp when you’ve found out what he’s doing.” 

Jimmy glided away in pursuit of the ray of light, 
that danced ahead of him like a will-o’-the-wisp. His 
task was easy. He was to follow something he could 
see, and the light itself helped him to make his way. 
Jimmy knew that the closer he could follow the man 
the easier it would be for him and the less likely he 
was to collide with anything or make any other 
noise that would betray him. So he slipped closer 
and closer to the retreating beam of light, until he 
was not more than a few rods behind it. Perilous 
though this course seemed, it was in reality the saf- 
est possible plan, as Jimmy knew. He realized that 
he could not be seen unless the man played his 
search-light directly on him; and Jimmy trusted to 
his natural quickness to get out of sight should the 


A SCOUT OF TWO 


247 


light swing round, before it rested on him. Thus 
the two, the hunter and the hunted, went through 
the nocturnal woods as silently as the shadows that 
enveloped them. 

At first Jimmy thought the man in front of him 
was walking at random ; but soon he discovered that 
he was going straight as a die, as though following 
a given line. Yet Jimmy could see no signs, no 
blazes on the trees, no trodden path, no evident indi- 
cations to guide the man. Once the fellow stopped. 
Quick as a fiash Jimmy slipped behind a great tree 
and stood motionless, hardly daring to breathe. But 
the man did not turn his light behind him. Instead 
he flashed it on the ground directly at his feet. 
Then, bent over so he could almost touch the earth, 
he walked slowly along for some rods, carefully 
scrutinizing the earth. 

Jimmy crept as close as he dared, hoping to be able 
to see what the man was searching for. He was 
treading on exactly the same ground the spy had 
trodden a few seconds ahead of him. But in the 
blackness about him Jimmy could not even see the 
ground, much less make out what was on it. Sud- 
denly he realized that the earth he was walking on 
was soft and had been soft all the way. He recalled 
that he had not kicked a single stone or stubbed his 
toe against a root. Then in the moving light ahead 
of him Jimmy saw a streak of yellow clay, like 
a daub of paint, several feet long. In a flash Jimmy 


248 


THE HIDDEN AERIAL 


comprehended the situation. The man was exam- 
ining the line of the transmission wire, to see if it 
had been disturbed; and Jimmy, following straight 
behind the man, was walking on the soft bed that 
had been made when the spies filled in their little 
trench after burying their wire. 

Immediately under his feet, then, was the thread 
of wire that kept these spies, holed up somewhere on 
the mountain, in touch with their confederates. For 
a moment Jimmy was tempted to cut the wire. He 
even knelt down and plunged his fingers into the soft 
loam. Then better judgment brought him to his 
feet again. To interrupt communications might 
hinder but would not prevent the spies from accom- 
plishing their work. On the other hand it would 
surely warn them that they were discovered. The 
best thing to do was to follow Lem’s suggestion and 
let them proceed without interruption. So Jimmy 
went reluctantly on his way, quickening his pace 
to regain the ground he had lost through his mo- 
mentary hesitation. 

On went the spy, following straight and true the 
line of the hidden wire. And close behind him, fur- 
tive as a shadow, came Jimmy. On they went 
through the dark and somber forest until suddenly 
the light from the spy’s torch fell on an unpeeled 
telephone pole. Jimmy knew he had reached the 
aerial. Carefully the spy played his light on the 
pole, the cross-arm, and the little threads of wire 


A SCOUT OF TWO 


249 


twisted together just beneath it. Then he strode 
over to the companion pole and examined the wire 
connections there. Everything was intact. With a 
sigh that Jimmy could plainly hear, the man turned 
from the aerial. His quest was completed. Cau- 
tiously Jimmy concealed himself behind a great 
boulder, peering over the top of it at the spy, who 
now stood in the open skidway. Presently the man 
lighted a cigar. Jimmy smiled with pleasure at that, 
as it indicated to him the man’s certainty that he 
was safe from discovery. After a time the spy 
turned about and retraced his steps. Again Jimmy 
followed on his trail, but this time he followed well 
to the rear. He did not want to risk alarming the 
man. 

Meantime Lem, too, had been busy. When Jimmy 
and his quarry were well out of sight, Lem crept from 
his place of concealment and made his way to the 
edge of the great stone heap. The man he was after 
had long ago vanished from sight, which made Lem’s 
task additionally difficult. But he knew the direc- 
tion the man had followed so long as he had been 
visible ; so Lem started after him. 

Painfully slow was his progress. He had not gone 
fifty feet before a stone rolled under his foot. But it 
came to rest almost before it was fairly started, and 
Lem breathed freely. A stone rattling down the slope 
would have meant to Lem about what a ringing burg- 
lar alarm does to a nocturnal thief. With every foot 


250 


THE HIDDEN AERIAL 


he advanced Lem understood better how truly Tom 
Sheppard had judged the nature of the stone pile. 
It seemed as though every rock in it was rounded off 
by the elements. And these rounded stones on the 
shoulder of the mountain made Lem think of a 
quantity of oranges heaped on a sloping plank. It 
was necessary to displace only one of them to send 
the entire pile clattering down the hill. The idea 
made cold chills run up and down his spine, for 
countless numbers of these rocks would weigh a 
hundred pounds or more. To be caught in a slide 
of them would be to be pounded to a pulp. 

As Lem worked his way farther out into the open, 
he found he could see much more distinctly. He 
strained his eyes to see if the spies had any sort of 
path. He could not believe that they crossed this 
dangerous stone heap daily without having taken 
some steps to make it safer. If only he could have 
used his light, Lem might have been able to tell from 
the appearance of the stones themselves where the 
spies had crossed. The mosses and lichens on them 
would surely have been worn by the passage of so 
many feet. But Lem dared not use his light. Almost 
certainly he would betray himself if he did. So he 
went on, slowly, testing each stone before he put his 
weight on it, sometimes feeling ahead of him with 
his fingers, and resorting to every expedient he could 
think of to press ahead swiftly and silently. 

Once his heart almost stopped beating as he heard, 


A SCOUT OF TWO 


251 


far up the slope, the rattle and clatter of a great stone 
that had somehow become loosened and begun to 
roll. Another joined it. Then another began to 
roll. Their clatter raised a tumult that was magni- 
fied by echoes flung back by the fringe of forest 
crowning the ridge. As the uproar grew Lem could 
feel his hair rising. Had the avalanche he feared 
already started? With clenched fists he stood still, 
listening, trying to decide whether or not the rolling 
rocks were headed for him. Then, as suddenly as 
the noise began, it subsided. Something had stopped 
the rolling stones. 

Lem drew a long breath and went on. For several 
minutes he crept forward in silence. Already he had 
forgotten the rolling stones. Now his mind was in- 
tent upon finding the trail of the man who had 
vanished into the darkness ahead of him. Then 
suddenly, from almost under his feet, came a loud 
whirring sound. As though turned to stone Lem 
stopped dead in his tracks. Little shivers ran over 
his body. His skin prickled all over like the skin of 
one suddenly chilled. But his heart was racing 
wildly. The whirring sound was the note of a rat- 
tler! 

Well Lem knew that note. Many a time he had 
heard it in these very mountains. And he knew 
what the consequences of one misstep might be — a 
sudden stinging blow in the dark, then a quick swell- 
ing of the body and perhaps death in awful agony. 


252 


THE HIDDEN AERIAL 


Assuredly a snake-bite meant death under the cir- 
cumstances. Who was there near to assist him? 
Only the spies he was hunting. They would rejoice 
to be free of him without having themselves to run 
the risk of murder. Death, alone in this dark and 
awful place — that was what menaced Lem. 

Shaking, he stood in his tracks, afraid to advance, 
afraid to go back, afraid to make any sort of move- 
ment. A very panic of fear gripped him. If only he 
could have seen the terrible thing that menaced 
him, his course would have been easy. But he knew 
not where to look, where to set his foot. 

Like any man who tries to do right, Lem had come 
to a crisis. The path of duty was the path of danger. 
And like others in similar circumstances, Lem was 
tempted to retreat. Why, he asked himself again, 
should he risk his life for those who were trying to 
harm him? Why should he incur danger for Frank 
Anderson’s father? Again he fought the battle be- 
tween inclination and duty, just as he had after the 
discovery of the spies. It was not too late yet, he 
told himself, to drop the matter. Jimmy would do 
anything he urged him to do. If he asked him to 
forget what he had discovered, he felt sure Jimmy 
would do it ; for he knew Jimmy felt toward Frank 
Anderson exactly as he did himself. Would this not 
be the sensible, the easy way, out of the present 
situation? 

Long he waged the battle with himself, standing 


A SCOUT OF TWO 


253 


like one of the very stones at his feet. How long he 
fought with himself Lem never knew, or how long 
the battle might have raged. For suddenly some- 
thing caused him to turn. Far off, deep in the forest 
he had so lately quitted and unquestionably coming 
toward him, Lem saw a flash of light. The spy that 
Jimmy had trailed was coming back. Whatever he 
did, Lem must do it at once. There was yet time to 
slip back to the forest and hide before the spy with 
the light came too close. There might still be time 
to go on and find what he was after. Which should 
he do — go back to safety and give up the chase, or 
do his duty and run the risk? For a single second 
Lem thought of Frank Anderson again. Then he 
hac. a mental vision of a great plain, scarred with 
trenches and red with poppies, on which he saw men 
dead, dying, horribly mutilated — men risking and 
giving all they had, even life itself — for him, for 
him. Fear and indecision vanished from his mind. 
He belonged to the second line of defense. The test 
had come. He would go on. 

Go on he did. Jerking his sweater from his shoul- 
ders, he waved it fiercely before him. No answering 
rattle came to his ears, and Lem knew that the 
stealthy death that had awaited him waited no 
longer. Swiftly, recklessly, he sped over the rocks. 
Yet with all his speed he stepped carefully. Fortune 
seemed to be with him. No stone either slipped or 
rolled. Had Lem but known it, he had blundered 


254 


THE HIDDEN AERIAL 


into the path made by the enemy when they ran 
their wire through the stone heap. Then they had 
lifted and replaced stone after stone, making sure 
each was solid. The spy Lem had been following 
had gone slowly, not through fear of rolling stones, 
but because of the rattlers. 

Occasionally Lem turned to look at the light be- 
hind him. At each glance he saw it was growing 
more distinct. The man at his back was gaining on 
him. Desperately Lem forged ahead. He knew not 
where he was going, or what he was looking for. But 
he could not stop, even to listen. At one of his 
glances backward he saw that the spy was close to 
the edge of the forest. The next time Lem looked 
no light was visible, and Lem knew that the man at 
his back was also out in the open, picking his way 
across the stones. 

A sigh of relief escaped from Lem. He had feared 
that the stranger’s light might betray him. Now 
that danger was gone. The two were on equal 
terms. Now it was up to Lem to find the other spy 
and get away before the man at his heels overtook 
him. But search as he might, look where he would, 
Lem could distinguish nothing that suggested 
human presence. Neither light nor the smell of 
smoke came to him as a guide. 

Suddenly he stopped short. A new fear had come 
to him. Had he over-run the hiding place? Had 
he, in his haste, passed unseen the very thing he was 
searching for? The fear of it sickened him. 


A SCOUT OF TWO 


255 


But a second thought reassured him. The man at 
his back, far from being a danger, was a help. The 
man would show him the very thing he wanted to 
find. 

Quickly Lem turned aside, seeking a place where 
he could hide and yet see. Not far down the slope 
some boulders stuck up above the level of the rock 
pile. Even in the gloom they were distinguishable. 
Like a shadow Lem glided down the slope and con- 
cealed himself. And so, peering out from behind 
the boulders, he waited and watched until the spy 
had passed. Then he crept softly up the hill again 
until he was fairly behind the spy, and so, crouching 
low to escape observation should the man turn, he 
glided after him. But he had not far to follow. 
Before the man had gone a hundred yards he thrice 
gave a soft whistle. Suddenly a line of light appear- 
ed. Directly ahead of him Lem made out dimly 
a huge ledge of rocks. Evidently there was a cave 
in it, for the light came from within the rock. A 
figure could be seen dimly at the entrance to the 
cave, holding back with one arm some sort of a 
curtain, probably a blanket, that had covered the 
entrance. For a moment he stood thus, awaiting his 
comrade. In that brief space Lem saw two other 
men within the cave, which was apparently small, 
a number of boxes and large tin cans, and a radio 
telegraph instrument. Lem had found what he was 
after. He had learned all it was necessary to know. 


256 


THE HIDDEN AERIAL 


Turning, he sped rapidly back across the rock pile 
toward the forest. 

Once within the shelter of the trees, Lem gave the 
plaintive, tremulous, flute-like note of the screech- 
owl. Twice he repeated the signal. But no 
answering note came to his ear. Evidently Jimmy 
had followed his instructions to the letter and gone 
straight back to camp. Drawing his flash-light, and 
holding it down so as to illumine only the path 
immediately before him, Lem descended to the 
spring, and thence made his way down the well 
trodden path along which the two had earlier 
ascended. In the bushes he found only one of the 
two poles they had left, so he knew Jimmy had 
crossed the creek ahead of him. In a few moments 
he, too, was on the far shore of the stream, and a 
few minutes later still he arrived at camp. A light 
still burned in Mr. Granby^s tent. Guardedly Lem 
announced his arrival. 

Come in,” said Mr. Granby in a low tone. 

Lem entered and closed the flap behind him. 
Jimmy and Mr. Granby were seated on camp-stools. 
Lem joined them and long into the night the little 
council of war discussed the situation as it appeared 
in the light of what had been discovered by the little 
scouting band of two. 


CHAPTER XXIII 


A COUNCIL OF WAR 

T he remainder of the camp was sunk in slumber. 

The dim candle in Mr. Granby^s tent was the 
only spark of light that glowed through the darkness. 
The little row of tents, looming spectral and white 
in the gloomy little valley, would have reminded an 
observer, had there been one, of those wilderness 
camps in the northern woods in colonial days, when 
men marched for weeks through the wilderness for 
a chance to fight — and died horrible deaths in the 
forest. But there were no observers, no human 
observers, of the encampment of this peaceful 
modern army. Only an occasional owl looked up 
or a flitting nighthawk glimpsed the rows of little 
tents. Only a prowling nocturnal mouse or a flutter- 
ing moth was cognizant of the little company of 
soldiers of the soil that lay asleep in the misty 
darkness beside the hurrying creek. 

With their heads close together, the trio in Mr. 
Granby’s tent discussed in low tones the situation 
as it now appeared to them. 

‘^We know where their aerial is, where they are 


257 


258 


THE HIDDEN AERIAL 


concealed, and that there are four of them,’’ said 
Lem, after he and Jimmy had recounted their ex- 
periences of the night. Now it remains to inter- 
cept their messages and discover what their plans 
are. But there’s the difficulty. The government 
has forbidden amateurs to use wireless outfits.” 

I don’t see that there could be any objection to 
our using a radio outfit if we only listened in with 
it,” protested Jimmy. The object of the law is 
to prevent the transmission of spy messages.” 

What you say, Jimmy,” said Mr. Granby, 
sounds entirely reasonable. Yet there is one flaw 
in your argument. The purpose of having a law 
is that the law may be obeyed. We come within the 
law. If we violate the law, we can have no rightful 
objection if others do so also. So we ourselves help 
to break down restrictions that were created because 
they were necessary. We cannot afford to do any- 
thing in violation of the new radio laws. But I 
haven’t a bit of doubt that, under the circumstances, 
we may be able to get permission from the author- 
ities to do what seems necessary. The question is 
how to get such permission quickest.” 

If only Captain Hardy were here,” sighed Lem, 
'^he would be able to arrange the thing at once. 
He’s a friend of the head of the government radio 
service and he’s conducting a wireless spy hunt in 
New York now for the government, with four of our 
boys.” 


A COUNCIL OF WAR 


259 


Then he^s the very man to get into touch with,’^ 
said Mr. Granby. “ What is the best way to do it? 

“ The quickest way,” suggested Lem, “ would be 
to get him on the long distance telephone. A letter 
takes so long.” 

There is one objection to both the telephone and 
the telegraph,” said Mr. Granby. Your message 
can be read by every person v/ho handles it — unless 
you send a code message — and, of course, you Wire- 
less Patrol boys don't have a code.” 

“No, we don’t,” admitted Lem, ruefully. 

“ But,” said Jimmy, “ we ought to be able to tell 
Captain Hardy what’s what without saying it in so 
many words. Can’t we do it? ” 

“The very idea, Jimmy. Of course we can,” 
replied Lem. 

“That ought to be entirely possible,” said their 
leader thoughtfully, “ since Captain Hardy knows 
all about your former experiences with spies. How 
could we word such a message? ” 

For a long time the three pondered over the 
matter, discussing various messages that would con- 
vey their meaning without telling the casual listener 
too much. But in the end they gave up the idea. 

“ It looks this way to me,” said Mr. Granby. 
“You know I didn’t take much stock in the spy the- 
ory when you first told me what you had found, Lem. 
But now that I have thought it all over and have 
heard your story of what happened to the Wireless 


260 


THE HIDDEN AERIAL 


Patrol in camp at Fort Brady, I haven’t a bit of 
doubt that the men on the mountain are German 
spies and that they are plotting to blow up the 
Anderson shell plant. What is more, I am now 
thoroughly convinced that you boys are right in 
believing the matter should be kept secret and the 
men watched until their plans are learned. It 
appears to me that if men are so desperate and so 
clever as to do what these men are doing, they will 
not neglect every precaution to insure their own 
safety and the success of their plan. 

“We know that the Germans have corrupted 
employees of factories and munitions works else- 
where. Why couldn’t they do the same here — 
perhaps with the telephone employees? What is 
to prevent one or more of their confederates from 
having telephones of their own installed so that they 
can listen in on party wires? I don’t say that they 
have done this, and I really do not think they would 
go so far. But it’s a possibility. And if there’s any 
telephone line they would tap, it would be the party 
line to which Mr. Henderson’s telephone is attached. 
They know our boys have seen them. If they are 
going to spy on anybody’s telephone talk, it would 
be on ours. And the same objection exists to the use 
of the telegraph. It looks to me as though the only 
safe plan is to communicate with Captain Hardy by 
letter. And we’ll send a registered, special delivery 
letter at that! ” 


A COUNCIL OF WAR 


261 


So the matter was settled, and the three spent 
some further time deciding what was to go in the 
letter. Mr. Granby wrote the letter, a paragraph 
at a time, as they decided \<^hat to say. When he 
had finished writing, he read his epistle aloud to his 
fellows. This was what he had set down: 

‘‘ My dear Captain Hardy: 

“I am in charge of a Liberty Camp of twenty- 
four boy farmers, who attended the training camp 
at State College and were sent to do work in the 
district near Central City. Naturally the Cen- 
tral City contingent, for whose enlistment I un- 
derstand you are largely responsible, has been sent 
to do duty at this camp. We are encamped along 
the creek, just within the foothills, on the land 
of Mr. Joseph Henderson. The mountain lies 
between our camp and Central City. You are 
doubtless familiar with the region. 

While prospecting for a spring to supply the 
camp with drinking water, Johnnie Lee and Tom 
Sheppard discovered a number of men erecting 
what they said was a telephone line for Uncle Sam. 
It ran up an old skidway on our side of the mountain. 
We thought nothing of the matter until your lieu- 
tenant, Lem Haskins, went prowling up the skidway 
one wet day. The skidway now extends from the 
summit of the mountain part way to the base, the 
lower part doubtless having been filled with earth 
washed down from above, so that thick vegetation 


262 


THE HIDDEN AERIAL 


has grown up and conceals the lower end of the 
skidway. Some poles with their bark still on and 
unpeeled cross-arms had been erected along this 
skidway. Being unbarked, they could not be dis- 
tinguished, at a distance of a few rods, from trees. 
Four strands of wire had been run from about the 
middle of the slope to the summit. Unused coils 
of wire were left lying along the skidway, and more 
poles also lay there, evidently to give the idea that 
the line was interrupted in the erection. 

Lem thought nothing of this until he noticed 
that the four wires stretching between the poles at 
the very summit of the mountain were insulated 
from the rest of the line and were united by fine 
wires, thus forming a perfect aerial. He also found 
a hidden wire that ran down one pole, under the 
bark which had been raised and replaced. This wire 
led off underground. It had been very skillfully 
concealed. A scouting expedition by Lem and 
Jimmy Donnelly this evening resulted in the dis- 
covery of a cave in a ledge of rocks far up on the 
mountain-side, in which four men were hidden. A 
wireless outfit was plainly seen in the cave. There 
can be no doubt that the hidden wire runs from the 
aerial to this cave. 

The two boys have just come in with this infor- 
mation. It is late at night and we are holding a 
council of war while the remainder of the camp 
sleeps. We feel certain that the men are German 


A COUNCIL OF WAR 


263 


spies, and that they are concerned in a plot to blow 
up the shell plant at Central City. The boys insist 
that we must keep the matter secret and watch the 
spies, if we want to thwart them. I have come to 
agree with them. To do this, we must have per- 
mission to use a wireless outfit to listen in. But we 
do not know how to get permission to do this. We 
are also puzzled to know how to handle the matter 
in case we get permission. The spies know we know 
about their Helephone-line.’ They may guess that 
we suspect them, though we have done nothing to 
alarm them. They may be watching us. Hence 
we must also use a secret wireless. And since 
secrecy is so necessary, we have decided to tell no 
one in camp about the matter excepting only those 
necessary to help in the work. At present only 
Jimmy and Lem and I are in the secret. Please do 
what you can to get permission for us to use a wire- 
less and advise us as to what, in your opinion, is 
the best method of procedure. 

Above all, please make haste. The boys are 
fearful that the damage may be done before we can 
learn what is afoot. We would have wired you or 
talked with you over the telephone, but the mail 
seemed the safest way. 

^^You will be pleased to know that my twenty- 
four boys are doing fine work, and that their efforts 
are in no small degree due to the enthusiastic loyalty 
of your own Wireless Patrol boys. I hope that I 


264 


THE HIDDEN AERIAL 


shall some day have the pleasure of making your 
acquaintance. When I do, I have some things to 
tell you concerning the deportment of your boys 
that will please you very much. TheyVe got the 
finest spirit of any boys in the company, and I am 
sure that I know how and where they got it. When 
you hear what I have to tell you, you will be proud 
of the job you have done with these lads. 

With sincere wishes for the success of your 
present labors, and thanks for whatever you may do 
to assist us, I am, believe me, 

“ Most cordially yours, 

'^Howard Granby.” 

“ I'm going into town in the morning,” said Mr. 
Granby, as he folded and sealed the letter, ^^and 
I'll put this in the post-ofl&ce myself. I'll get it off 
on the first mail. Now you boys turn in and try 
to get a little sleep. We've got a hard day ahead of 
us, and it's almost daybreak now.” 


CHAPTER XXIV 


THE PINCH 

IVyT R. GRANBY’S statement was true enough. The 
day’s work had proved hard. The sun came 
up with a fiery glow that foretold the hottest kind of 
weather. The warmth and the wind soon dried out 
the grain; and though the earth was still far from 
dry, work was resumed on the wheat harvest. Mr. 
Henderson’s wheat-field contained thirty acres. 
Probably not more than ten acres had been cut on the 
first day of harvest. At least two days more would 
be required to finish the task, and more still if the 
horses became fagged. If the work could have been 
begun in the cool of the morning it would have gone 
faster and better. But until the sun had dried the 
dew on the straw, harvesting could not begin. And 
so, although the boys at the Liberty Camp were up 
at an early hour, they did not come marching down 
the notch until the sun was high and the day well 
advanced. Even then they had to wait a few 
minutes until Mr. Henderson was thoroughly satis- 
fied with the condition of the wheat. 

One and all, the young farmers sought the shade 


265 


266 


THE HIDDEN AERIAL 


while waiting. As the sun climbed higher and its 
rays poured down hotter and hotter, the breeze of 
the early morning constantly grew fainter, at last 
dying away almost entirely. By the time the boys 
were ordered to the field there was hardly a breath 
of air stirring. And because the wet ground was 
exhaling so much moisture, the atmosphere was 
humid to an almost unbearable degree. In fact, 
it was so saturated with moisture that apparently 
it would absorb no more. There was no drying of 
perspiration, no evaporation of sweat, to cool the 
heated farm lads. Before the work had been in 
progress half an hour, not a boy in the group had a 
dry thread on his body. Every one in the party was 
soaked and bathed in perspiration. 

As on the previous day Mr. Henderson drove one 
binder and Charley the other, though it was ar- 
ranged that each driver should be relieved after a 
time by others. The boys afoot looked enviously at 
Charley as he went round and round the field on his 
high seat. They had to walk over the soft, yielding 
earth. The very effort necessary to move was 
tiring. Every time a boy set up a shock, he had to 
bend and lift two heavy sheaves, one in either hand, 
and repeat the process until the shock was com- 
pleted. The sun beat straight down on the bent 
backs so ardently that its fiery beams seemed to 
pierce through shirts and underclothing. It seemed 
fairly to scorch and blister. Its indirect rays crept 


THE PINCH 


267 


under broad-brimmed straw hats and tanned and 
burned the faces beneath. Wrists and forearms, 
where shirt-sleeves were incautiously rolled up for 
the sake of coolness, soon became red and painful. 

But when one of the lads afoot relieved Charley, 
and started off on the hard, high, iron seat, he found 
that Charley’s task was quite as difficult as his own 
had been. The very seat seemed like a griddle. 
The air, that rose quivering with heat, was like hot 
steam. The roughness of the ground jarred and 
jolted the binder until the driver’s teeth fairly 
rattled, for there were no springs to the binder 
seat. Again and again it was necessary for the 
driver to brace himself to avoid being shaken from 
his place. His body muscles were under constant 
tension. And all the while the driver had to watch 
his swath, to make sure he cut it true and as wide as 
possible without missing any straw. Constantly the 
horses tried to turn inward, snatching mouthfuls 
whenever they could get their heads within reach 
of the golden grain. So the driver had to watch his 
team' every second he was in motion. He had to 
drop his sheaves in little rows so the shocks could be 
fashioned faster and easier. And at every corner he 
had to finish his swath clean, then back the heavy 
machine half-way around and start his next cut at 
right angles to the swath just finished. 

It was hard and heavy work. It was trying labor. 
Every muscle and every nerve was in constant use. 


268 


THE HIDDEN AERIAL 


For, in addition to running his binder true and 
driving his horses straight and dropping his sheaves 
exactly, the driver had always to keep one eye on 
his twine, to make certain that it was not exhausted, 
to see that it was feeding right, to be sure that the 
sheaves were tied. And like a locomotive driver, 
he had to listen, listen, listen to the whir of his 
machine as he drove along in order to detect any 
false or unusual noise. Assuredly driving a binder 
was not the fun some of Charley’s companions had 
imagined it to be. 

And assuredly real harvesting was not like the 
lessons at the training camp. Then the boys worked 
in three-hour periods, often with one boy to be 
taught a trick while the others rested. Now every 
lad was busy every minute, and the task was an 
all-day job. Round and round went the binders 
in endless procession. Round and round went the 
shock makers, plodding wearily over the soft stubble 
land, bending and lifting, bending and lifting, bend- 
ing and lifting, until it seemed to many a lad in the 
crew that his back would break in half. 

It was such an exhausting day that Mr. Hender- 
son kept close watch on his horses to see that they 
were not overworked, and Mr. Granby’s eye roamed 
from boy to boy to see that none became overheated. 
More and more often as the hours wore on, it became 
necessary to rest the horses. And at intervals ever 
lessening the lads from Liberty Camp were com- 


THE PINCH 


269 


pelled to seek the shade for a few moments. A jug 
of water helped to allay the parching thirst occa- 
sioned by the unusual labors, but the bodies and 
muscles of these young boys were not hardened and 
inured to labor like those of men and they rapidly 
became fagged. 

And now came the pinch, the time of trial, like 
that faced by new troops going over the top for the 
first time. The weeks of training at State College 
had taught these lads how to do their work, just 
as the months of drill at camp or cantonment had 
prepared the men in the trenches for theirs. The 
test in both cases came when the forces went into 
action. Did the soldier about to go over the top 
have the necessary stamina and courage to fight? 
Did these lads in the second line of defense have 
enough strength of mind and spirit to stick to their 
tasks? 

Results alone could tell. And results were not 
long in showing. To Mr. Granby these results were 
more illuminating than all the things he had been 
told concerning the boys he was to lead. As he ran 
his eye from lad to lad, he noted that Lem was work- 
ing away with rhythmical movements, his lips 
compressed in a straight line, his features a little 
drawn and twisted into a kind of scowl. But it was 
not the scowl of ill will. It was the hard, set face 
of a man who is doing an unpleasant duty and who 
is determined to let nothing stand in the way of 


270 


THE HIDDEN AERIAL 


its accomplishment. And Mr. Granby also noted 
that no one paused less often or rested for shorter 
periods than Lem. Once, in fact, noting the line of 
weariness on Lem^s face, and seeing how hot the lad 
was becoming, Mr. Granby cautioned him not to 
overdo. 

Jimmy Donnelly was a good running mate for 
Lem so far as spirit was concerned. Always seeing 
the funny side of things, Jimmy was now more 
inclined to laugh than scowl at the job in hand. 
But his jaw was set in that uncompromising way 
he had and the twinkle in his eyes was as much the 
light of courage as it was of fun. 

Tom Sheppard, big, stalwart Tom Sheppard, was 
a joy to behold. Tom was of the country. He had 
been born on a farm. His great muscles had that 
strength that comes from long practice at sustained 
labor ; for, like all farm lads, he had had to do heavy 
work even as a little child. And now, though he had 
for several years lived in a small city, he did with 
facility the old accustomed tasks. 

Most of the other boys were working with dogged 
determination. But there were one or two very 
evident exceptions. Frank Anderson, big enough 
and husky enough to have toiled with the best of 
his fellows, was the worst drone in the group. Had 
Frank wanted to harvest wheat, neither sun nor 
anything else would have prevented him. He had 
tremendous will power if he chose to exert it. But 


THE PINCH 


271 


Frank did not want to harvest wheat any more than 
he had wanted to do any of the other tasks he had 
been doing since he enlisted in the Working Reserve. 
So now, as in the past, he merely ^^went through 
the motions.^^ He set up shocks enough to keep up 
appearances, but sought the shade at every possible 
opportunity. 

His face, too, wore a scowl. But his scowl was the 
exact opposite of Lem’s. His scowl was the scowl of 
ill will. Continually as he set up shocks or brooded 
in the shade, he was turning over and over in his 
mind the unpleasant situation in which he found 
himself, and pondering on how he could use it to his 
purpose — and that purpose was to get even ” 
with Lem Haskins. So much had Frank brooded 
over the matter that by this time getting even ” 
with Lem had become an absorbing passion with 
him. For now, in addition to being compelled to 
do what he did not want to do, Frank knew for the 
first time in his life what it was to be regarded with 
contempt. Company B had never forgotten the 
outcome of Lem’s trial, although most of Frank’s 
casual acquaintances in the group at the Liberty 
Camp now treated him more cordially than they had 
immediately after the court-martial. Only Frank’s 
immediate chums displayed the old-time liking for 
him. And they, of course, imitated him in every- 
thing. So Frank’s mere example made two other 
drones in addition to himself. 


272 


THE HIDDEN AERIAL 


As the day wore on, the sun grew hotter and 
hotter, the sheaves seemed heavier and heavier, and 
tired arms and legs moved slower and slower. 
Plainly the lads from the Liberty Camp were becom- 
ing fagged. Nor were they the only beings that were 
played out. The horses, too, were fast reaching 
the limits of their endurance. Long before the day 
was done, therefore, Mr. Henderson gave the signal 
to quit work. The binder canvases were covered 
to keep off the dew of the coming night, the horses 
were unhitched and led to the barn, and the Liberty 
boys went wearily back to camp. 

Excepting for the fact that it was not quite so 
hot, the next day was a repetition of the day just 
passed. For hours the tired boys and horses toiled 
under a blistering sun, earning, in very truth, the 
right to their title soldiers of the soil.’^ On this 
day, too, it was necessary to stop work early on 
account of the horses. So a third day’s work was 
necessary before the harvest was completed. 

Three hot, stifling days they had been; days to 
try the spirit of any group of lads. Thanks to the 
short hours, the boys had come through the pinch 
without harm and were rapidly hardening to the 
work. With Mr. Granby to cheer and encourage 
them, and with the determined example of Lem and 
Jimmy and Tom before them, the lads had come 
through the test with flying colors. Discontent was 
confined to Frank Anderson’s little group. 


THE PINCH 


273 


Had it not been that now, more than ever, deser- 
tion would have given him the reputation of being 
yellow, Frank would have left the camp at once. 
He had added Mr. Henderson to his list of enemies, 
and with every hour he brooded over his situation, 
he disliked the farmer more. To be doing work 
that he despised with all his heart, to be doing it 
against his will, and to be doing it for a man he 
hated, constituted for Frank a situation that was 
well-nigh unbearable. Yet circumstances had thrust 
him into just such a situation and he could see no 
way out of it — that is, no way that would save his 
reputation. To quit work and take his chums with 
him would hurt Mr. Henderson. Frank wanted to 
do it. But if he did, he must expect to be called a 
quitter; and that Frank could not stand. Over and 
over he asked himself how he could injure Lem 
Haskins and Mr. Henderson without suffering in 
return. But he saw no way. 


CHAPTER XXV 


A DANGEROUS SITUATION 

S OONER than ever he had expected, and in a way 
utterly unlooked for, Frank’s opportunity came. 
On the evening that the Henderson wheat cutting 
was finished, Mr. Granby received a telegram from 
Captain Hardy asking him to come to New York 
immediately. Mr. Granby understood of course 
that he was needed in connection with the discovery 
of the spies on the mountain. He found that by 
catching a train that night he might be in New York 
in the morning. So he prepared to depart at once. 
How long he would be gone he had no way of know- 
ing, but he did not believe his absence would be 
extended. Nevertheless it was necessary that some 
one should take charge of the work while he was 
away. Even when things went most smoothly 
there were a hundred little questions every day that 
had to be decided by the leader. To leave the camp 
without a responsible head, therefore, would be to 
invite discord. 

Lem was of course the logical one to put in charge 
of the work. He had been an officer at the training 

274 


A DANGEROUS SITUATION m 

camp, and there he had attained such an influence 
with his fellows that some of them still referred 
minor matters to him rather than bother Mr. Granby 
with them. Furthermore, excepting for Jimmy, no 
one but Lem knew about the spies on the mountain. 
Had Mr. Granby been able to see inside the heads 
of the lads under his command and read their 
thoughts, he might not have made Lem his vice 
commander. But he could not read thought, he 
did not know what was in Frank Anderson’s head, 
and so he left Lem in charge of the camp. 

In doing so, Mr. Granby played directly into the 
hands of Frank Anderson. Orders that, coming 
from Mr. Granby, would have been accepted without 
question by every lad in the company, might easily 
be questioned when issued by Lem, particularly by 
those of his fellows who did not like him. Motives 
that could not possibly animate Mr. Granby might 
readily be attributed by Frank to Lem and as readily 
credited by certain lads. Furthermore, where Mr. 
Granby had full power to inflict final and instant 
punishment for breaches of discipline, Lem had no 
power at all. He could merely reprimand an 
offender and report him to Mr. Granby for final 
judgment. By offering a plausible excuse, the 
offender might well hope to come off with little 
harm, or even escape entirely the just results of his 
deeds. At least so it seemed to Frank Anderson as 
he pondered the situation. And having so decided, 


276 


THE HIDDEN AERIAL 


he lost no time in considering how he could turn the 
situation to account. 

Just as Mr. Granby had unconsciously played into 
Frank’s hands, so now Lem did likewise. The 
Henderson wheat cutting was done; but the wheat 
had yet to be hauled to the barn and stored in the 
mows. Mr. Henderson needed at least five boys to 
help him, for he intended to run two wagons. Mr. 
Rawlins urgently asked for as many boys as could 
be spared, to hoe his corn. Lem had to select the 
boys for each task. Johnnie Lee was still happily 
and efficiently helping the trucker with his garden- 
ing. Alec Cunningham and George Larkin were 
helping a near-by farmer to make hay. Lem could 
choose from among the remaining boys. He had 
once helped a farmer to store his wheat. With 
painful distinctness Lem remembered the terrible 
heat and the stifling air in the barn, and the exhaust- 
ing strain of pitching the heavy sheaves up into the 
mow. Only the sturdiest of boys could endure such 
a test. 

When Lem made his selection, therefore, he 
picked Tom Sheppard first of all and then Jimmy. 
Next he selected George Martin and finally Charley 
Russell. These four, with Lem himself, would give 
Mr. Henderson the force he needed. It would have 
been more fitting, as Lem well knew, had he chosen 
Frank Anderson rather than Charley Russell. 
Frank was the sturdier of the two. But Lem, know- 


A DANGEROUS SITUATION 


277 


ing how hard the work would be, feared lest Frank 
might think he was taking advantage of his tempo- 
rary authority to “ rub it in by assigning him to 
the hardest tasks possible. So Lem sent Frank to 
hoe corn, with all the other boys in camp except 
those named. 

If only Tom Sheppard or one of the Camp Brady 
boys could have been with the hoers of corn things 
would have been different. Then there would have 
been some one friendly to Lem to defend him. But 
not one of Lem’s immediate friends was in the group. 
On the other hand Frank Anderson and his two 
chums, Roger and Clarence, as well as George 
Fletcher and former Corporal Worthington, were all 
with the corn cultivators. To stir up dissatisfaction 
was now Frank’s immediate purpose; and if he had 
made the conditions himself they could not have 
been more to his liking. 

His active brain saw the possibilities of the situa- 
tion the minute Lem announced the personnel of 
the two parties. From that instant Frank began to 
exert himself. Into his manner he threw all the 
charm and magnetism that he knew how to exert. 
He was alert. He made bright remarks. Like an 
Indian orator seeking to win the good-will of an 
audience, Frank spoke now to this fellow worker, 
now to that, in- an unobtrusively flattering way. 
He made opportunity to speak of this or that credit- 
able thing he had seen one or another of his comrades 


978 


THE HIDDEN AERIAL 


do at State College or at the Liberty Camp. And 
when the party reached the corn ground and the 
actual labor of the day began, no one seemed more 
eager for it than Frank. It was remarkable how 
far the short journey from the camp to the corn field 
went in restoring Frank to the good-will of those of 
his fellows who had been estranged from him. 
Meantime, with characteristic craftiness, Frank had 
passed the word to his two immediate chums that 
this was the opportunity to stir up trouble for Lem, 
and that the way to do it was to create dissatisfac- 
tion among their fellows. But he cautioned them 
that suggestions unfavorable to Lem must not come 
from them but be drawn from others. 

To bring this about was not so difiicult as it 
might seem. The sun was hot, and the hoeing was 
hard work. Enthusiasm for the task soon waned. 
By the middle of the forenoon every lad in the group 
was sick of the job. The time was ripe for the 
plotters to begin their task. 

Phew ! ” remarked Roger Branscome to the boy 
next him. It sure is hot. I wish I were riding on 
a load of wheat instead of grubbing weeds.’^ 

So do I,^^ was the answer. I guess this is the 
toughest job in the whole lot.’^ 

“ IPs a heap sight harder than hauling wheat,^’ 
said a sweating lad near by, who had overheard the 
conversation, but who had never pitched a sheaf of 
grain in his life. I’ll bet on that.” 


A DANGEROUS SITUATION 


279 


I shouldn't wonder/’ slyly remarked Clarence 
Westervelt, for I noticed that our new leader didn’t 
pick the job for himself or any of his friends.” 

The vicious little remark was like a match dropped 
in dry grass. Conditions were right for a conflagra- 
tion. More than one boy already had blisters on 
his hands. The hot, sandy ground seemed almost 
to burn the feet. The heat waves rose quivering 
from the earth and seemed almost to scorch the 
bodies of the corn hoers. Their youthful arms 
ached. Their backs seemed tired to the breaking 
point. The glaring sun made their eyes burn and 
their heads buzz. They had reached that point 
where the ordinary mortal begins to crumble under 
difficulties; and most of the boys in the group were 
ordinary. Like the men at Winchester, who, fleeing 
from the foe, turned back and won a victory upon 
the arrival of Sheridan, these lads had lost their own 
spirit and were ready to follow any strong soul 
wherever he would lead. And the strongest soul 
among them was Frank Anderson. 

So they were like tinder to Clarence’s remark. 
From one to another the mean insinuation passed, 
growing by repetition, as such things always dOv 
until it reached the last boy in the group as the flat 
statement that Lem had picked the easy job for his 
friends and himself and saddled the hard work on 
the lads in the corn field. In the group were several 
boys of good judgment, who ordinarily would have 


280 


THE HIDDEN AERIAL 


scorned to believe or repeat such a suggestion con- 
cerning Lem; but the combination of circumstances 
now swept them along with their fellows. For it 
was a fact that all of Lem’s friends were either 
hauling wheat or working at some other task, 
while all of Lem’s enemies were hoeing corn. So 
Clarence’s remark found acceptance where under 
ordinary circumstances it would have met with 
disbelief. And belief led to resentment, because the 
remainder of the party felt that while, in view of all 
that Frank had attempted to do to Lem, it might 
have been fair enough to select Frank and his friends 
for this tough job, it wasn’t fair to punish the rest 
of the party along with Frank; for so disagreeable 
did the work become that it was soon viewed in the 
light of punishment. 

Now happened what always happens when 
persons begin to brood on their wrongs or mis- 
fortunes, either real or fancied. The misfortunes 
suddenly were magnified out of all proportion to 
their actual size. The sun’s heat immediately 
became many times as great as it had seemed before 
Clarence dropped his malicious hint. The weeds 
suddenly increased amazingly in number and tough- 
ness. Hoes all at once grew many pounds in weight. 
Little blisters that their possessors usually would 
have joked about now seemed like deep wounds. 
Backs that were merely tired before, now seemed 
breaking. Spirit, courage, morale, had broken down. 


A DANGEROUS SITUATION 


281 


Just as the soldiers of Italy after months of stubborn 
and successful struggle against all but insurmountable 
obstacles suddenly broke down under the insidious 
propaganda of the Germans, and were disastrously 
beaten by the very men they had for months been 
driving before them, so now these young soldiers of 
the soil suddenly lost their courage, suddenly 
relaxed their grip, forgot about the war, forgot that 
they were part of the second line of defense, forgot 
why they were hoeing corn, and thought only of the 
hardness of their task, of its difficulties, of their 
blistered hands and tired feet and aching backs and 
burning bodies. The spirit that makes an army 
victorious had vanished. For the time being they 
were a beaten regiment. They were ready to retreat 
in disorder. All that was needed was some one to 
lead them. And that some one was at hand. 

But the boy who had started it all was too crafty 
to act prematurely. He wanted to let the virus of 
discontent work longer, for he realized that unless 
every boy in the group was sick unto death of the 
task in hand, any proposal to break up the camp 
would shock some of his fellows into their right 
minds again. So Frank was careful to make no 
suggestion and not to let his two chums make any 
suggestion pointing to an out-and-out desertion of 
the work. For it was now Frank’s scheme to even 
up his score with his enemies at one stroke. By 
taking away a part of the force of boys he would 


282 THE HIDDEN AERIAL 

cripple the work and so hurt Mr. Henderson and the 
other farmers — for now Frank’s hatred extended 
to them all — through the probable loss of a part of 
the crops; while, if a large number of boys left the 
camp in a body, he would escape the odium that 
would accompany desertion if he went alone. At the 
same time it was his purpose to have it appear that 
the deserters had really been driven to leave, not 
through any wish to quit the work, but because of 
the unfairness and arbitrary conduct of Lem. 

Meanwhile Lem and his friends, utterly uncon- 
scious of what was afoot in the corn field, were doing 
Herculean labors in the wheat field. They were 
working to the limit of endurance, pitching and stor- 
ing the heavy sheaves in the indescribably suffocat- 
ing mows. They were driving themselves as a racer 
drives a motor-car, carefully but at top speed. They 
were doing good work and fast work, for, like Long- 
fellow’s ship-builder, their heart was in their art. 
They were storing wheat to back up the boys in 
Flanders and the Argonne, to help feed the starving 
babies of Belgium, to tide our French allies over 
their period of hunger. Never for a moment did they 
forget this great, essential fact. The very reason for 
their being in Mr. Henderson’s wheat field at all 
was to serve their country and humanity. So it 
never occurred to one of them to grumble at the heat 
or mutter at the difficulties of their task. Their 
interest was rather in how fast they could work. 


A DANGEROUS SITUATION 


283 


in how much they could accomplish. Their spirit, 
their morale was high, was exactly the opposite of 
that of their fellows in the corn field. And in both 
cases the situation was the result of leadership. 
Lem wanted to lead his men to victory. Anderson 
wanted to take his company to defeat. And each, 
being a strong soul, was accomplishing his purpose. 

As the day wore on the heat increased. If any- 
thing, it became hotter than it had been at any time 
since the opening of the Liberty Camp. In the corn 
field the sun’s ray seemed fairly to scorch the dis- 
contented wielders of the hoe. The powdered soil, 
stirred by feet and hoes, formed a dust that rose 
and choked the workers. As the sun grew hotter 
the murmurs of discontent increased. The little fire 
started by Clarence’s burning words flamed hotter 
and hotter. At first only the driest, most tinder-like 
of his companions had caught fire; but now every 
lad in the group flamed up. The heat of the con- 
flagration ignited all it touched. And from time to 
time Roger Branscome, with a cleverness that seemed 
hardly human, added a crackling brand of conversa- 
tion, like Clarence’s original remark, that not only 
served to keep the fire burning, but that constantly 
added to its intensity. 

Frank, meantime, worked away like a martyr. He 
said little. He assented to much. He was careful 
to make no suggestions himself that could be con- 
strued as urging desertion. He wanted the idea to 


284 


THE HIDDEN AERIAL 


seem to come from the others, to appear to start 
with the crowd. And inheriting unusual cleverness, 
and having learned much more by observation at 
home, he was able to exert an indirect influence on 
his fellows that seemed incredible in one of his years. 
Yet events at State College had amply proven his 
ability in that direction. Working through his im- 
mediate chums, therefore, he was able to lead his 
fellows where he wanted them to go, and at the same 
time leave them unconscious of the fact that they 
were being led at all. 

Midday found the group of hoe wielders almost 
ripe for rebellion. And their discontent was not 
lessened when they met their fellows at dinner. For 
Lem’s little crew, filled with satisfaction at their 
achievements, proud of what they had done, and 
burning with the desire to make a record in their 
work, were full of fun and spirit. 

^Mt’s easy to see that they didn’t have anything 
very hard to do,” remarked Roger Branscome to one 
of his fellow corn hoers. Look at them.” 

The look seemed to confirm Roger’s assertion. To 
boys as dejected as the corn hoers, such spirit as 
Lem’s little group displayed was ample evidence 
that they were not working hard and that they were 
thoroughly enjoying themselves. The remark, as 
Roger had intended it should, went the rounds of 
the malcontents and helped to fan the fiames. 

It was Frank himself who craftily added the last 


A DANGEROUS SITUATION 


285 


straw to the back-breaking burden on the corn cul- 
tivators. When his company came back to camp 
that night, after an afternoon that seemed even 
worse than the forenoon had appeared, he asked 
Lem, with apparent innocence how long the corn 
hoeing would continue. 

How much did you get done? answered Lem. 

Perhaps an eighth of the field,^^ said Frank, 
whereas really they had done a quarter. 

Then I suppose it will take a week to finish it,^’ 
said Lem. Mr. Granby’s instructions were to get 
in the wheat and hoe that field clean before we did 
anything else.” 

Lem noticed the black looks that followed his re- 
mark. He knew that a week of corn hoeing would 
be almost unbearable to anybody ; and he also knew 
that the hoers should have cleaned more than an 
eighth of the field in a day. He had refrained from 
making any criticism Now he sought to cheer up 
the hoers. 

I don’t think it will take all that time, though,” 
he added, for as soon as we get the wheat in, we’ll 
be with you.” 

How soon will that be? ” asked Frank. 

“ We’ll finish the wheat to-morrow,” said Lem. 

That information was all that Frank lacked to 
perfect his plans. If rebellion was to come, if the 
corn hoers were to desert, the thing must be brought 
about within twenty-four hours. Once Lem and 


286 


THE HIDDEN AERIAL 


Tom Sheppard got among the corn hoers, Prank 
realized, the spirit of discontent would vanish, and 
his opportunity for revenge would be gone. He 
must make hay while the sun shone. 

And make hay he did. No sooner had his party 
started work the next day and the atmosphere had 
again begun to grow hot, than Prank acted, though 
all that he did he accomplished through his con- 
federates. 

I wonder how many of us will be alive after 
eight days of this,” remarked Clarence Westervelt, 
as he paused at the end of a corn row. I never 
knew fellows to work out in heat like this without 
getting dysentery pretty bad, even if they didnT get 
a direct sunstroke. Nice place to be sick this would 
be. I wonder how many of us will be here to see 
the end of it.” 

Well, I wonT for one,” replied George Pletcher. 
“I'm going to quit. I can do more for Uncle Sam 
and earn a heap sight more money while doing it, by 
working in a shell plant. I don't believe half the 
stuff they tell about lack of food. There's plenty 
of food. The farmers never raised so much before. 
This Boys' Reserve business is just a scheme for the 
farmers to get cheap labor. I'm willing to work, all 
right, but I ain't going to let anybody make a sucker 
of me, and that's flat.” 

Other boys had stopped to listen to the conversa- 
tion. 


A DANGEROUS SITUATION 


287 


What are you going to do? asked Clarence. 

“ Do? said George. I’m going to quit. You 
just watch me.” 

But what about the camp? You can’t run off 
and leave the rest of us to do your work.” 

Don’t need to,” said George. '' We’ll all go.” 

It wouldn’t look right,” objected Clarence. 

** Looks ! ” snorted George. Who cares for 
looks? Look at the facts. It ain’t my fault I’m 
going. It’s that fathead Haskins. He can’t expect 
us to stay if he don’t give us a square deal. He put 
us over here to work like slaves while he and his 
friends ride around in wagons and have a good time. 
And to-morrow, I suppose, he’ll come over here and 
boss us around and make us work harder than ever. 
I won’t stand it, for one. Me for the square deal.” 

Here, too,” said another scowling lad. No- 
body’s going to put anything like that over on me.” 

So the conflagration spread from one to another. 
Duty to country was forgotten. The oath of alle- 
giance to the Working Reserve ceased to have mean- 
ing or binding force. Nothing counted now but the 
wrong that had been done them — a wrong that 
existed solely in their own minds. 

So the party deserted the corn field, every boy in 
it having expressed his determination to leave camp 
at once. And sixteen of the twenty-four boys in 
camp were included in the group. Assuredly Frank 
Anderson was about to have his revenge. 


CHAPTER XXVI 


THE CRISIS 

L em was not surprised to find the corn hoers at 
camp when he reached there, for Mr. Rawlins^ 
corn field was much nearer to camp than Mr. Hen- 
derson's wheat field. He did not know, of course, 
that his fellows had left the corn field long before 
the prescribed time and that they had been in camp 
for an hour or more. Nor did he at once discover 
that fact, or notice that every boy in camp was pack- 
ing his suit case. 

During the afternoon a long, thin parcel had come 
for Lem in care of Mr. Henderson. Lem recognized 
the handwriting on the package as that of Captain 
Hardy. He believed that the package was in some 
way connected with the spy matter, though what 
it contained Lem could not imagine, for it was such 
an odd shaped package, resembling as it did, an 
umbrella box. But no matter what was in it, Lem 
knew that it was important for him to get the parcel 
open and to do so secretly. The wheat hauling 
was well toward completion and Lem saw that his 
companions could easily finish the work alone. So, 
288 


THE CRISIS 


289 


explaining to Jimmy that he had a package from 
Captain Hardy that he wanted to open before the 
others reached camp, he slipped away shortly before 
the usual hour and hurried back to the notch. 
When he saw the corn hoers, he thought that they 
also just arrived. They might even have stopped 
work a bit early because of the exhausting heat. 
Lem did not blame them for that. In fact, he was 
so engrossed in the matter in hand that he gave little 
thought to the presence of his comrades, but went at 
once to his own tent and dropped the flap. 

Carefully he pried off the lid of the box. From 
within the wrappings of tissue-paper and excelsior 
Lem drew forth what looked like a metal cane with 
a curved handle. Astonished, Lem turned the thing 
over and over in his hands. Presently he noticed a 
small round hole in the handle. Lem was com- 
pletely puzzled. What could Captain Hardy be 
sending him a cane for, he asked himself, when what 
he needed was a wireless set? Unable to fathom 
the mystery of the metal cane, Lem laid it down. 
Searching again in the bdx, he found what looked 
like a giant fountain pen. It was bluntly pointed 
and had a moveable cap. Also it had small round 
holes in it like the one in the handle of the cane, 
Lem was more mystified than ever. He tried to 
make a mark with the pen, but no ink flowed. The 
thing certainly looked like a pen, but Lem was cer- 
tain that it could not be one. What it was he 


290 


THE HIDDEN AERIAL 


couldn’t even guess. A third package still remained 
in the box. Lem drew it forth and unwrapped the 
tissue-paper. Some insulated wires uncoiled in his 
hands. They were terminated with bayonet con- 
nections. Again Lem felt in the box. Nothing but 
some wisps of excelsior and bits of paper remained. 
Patiently Lem pulled to pieces all the little bunches 
of excelsior and all the wads of paper he had taken 
from the package, but they contained nothing. 
Whatever the thing was that had come in the box, 
it was complete in the two pieces with the two wires. 

Lem was deeply mystified. He now believed the 
apparatus before him had something to do with 
radio communication, but had not the slightest ink- 
ling as to how it operated. He had never seen or 
heard of anything like it. Carefully he went through 
the wrappings again and this time, inside the tissue- 
paper from which he had drawn the cane, he found 
a little circular of instructions. Eagerly he read the 
directions. 

'' Extend the rod full length,” they ran, “ and con- 
nect it to the receiver with one of the wires. With 
the second wire connect the receiver with the ground. 
Hold the extended rod aloft in one hand and with the 
other place the pointed end of the receiver to the 
ear. Tune by sliding the moveable cap along the 
receiver.” 

With sparkling eyes Lem read the directions. 
Now he understood the entire apparatus. Captain 


THE CRISIS 


291 


Hardy had sent him a wireless receiving outfit. The 
cane was the aerial. The thing that looked like a 
fountain pen was the receiver. He could receive 
but could not send messages. 

Eagerly Lem turned to inspect the cane. The 
directions said to “ extend it full length.^^ Evidently 
it was some sort of an extension rod, but at first 
Lem was unable to see how to lengthen it. Close 
examination of the ferrule end of the cane showed 
Lem that it was composed of several sliding tubes, 
one within another, like a telescoping fishing-rod. 
Seizing the ferrule, he gave a sharp jerk and a very 
thin rod shot out. One by one he pulled out the 
joints, until his cane had reached a length of fully 
ten feet. He had to slant the rod diagonally across 
his tent in order to find room to extend it to its full 
length. Satisfied that he had learned all that he 
could about the instrument, Lem shut it together 
again. 

‘‘Nobody would ever guess it wasn^t a cane,” he 
said to himself as he looked admiringly at the closed 
aerial. 

He laid the cane down on his cot and picked up 
the fountain pen. He found that the cap would 
slide back and forth on the butt end, and that the 
tip really was shaped to fit into the ear. Placing 
the instrument to his ear, Lem slid the cap back and 
forth on the butt, according to directions. 

“ I guess I know how to tune with it,” he mut- 
tered. “ Now let’s see how to connect the thing up.” 


292 


THE HIDDEN AERIAL 


With the shorter of the two wires he connected 
the cane and the pen, the bayonet connections fitting 
snugly into the little holes in each. The second 
wire he fastened in the hole in the opposite side of 
the pen, then looked about for some way of making 
a ground-connection. He saw none. Taking his 
knife, he thrust it into the floor of the tent and 
wrapped the wire about it. 

^‘Now,’' he muttered, ‘‘that^s the way the thing 
goes together, but of course that doesn’t make a 
ground-connection, for the knife is in wood. But 
that is the way it works, anyway.” 

He stood erect under the ridge of his tent, raised 
the cane slightly in one hand and put the pen to 
his ear with the other. 

Oh ! ” he muttered, How I wish I dared really 
to try it. But I can’t do that until night.” Suddenly 
his face became thoughtful. I wonder what the 
receiving radius of this outfit is? ” he asked himself. 

Then his face went white. He had just realized 
that there were no batteries with the apparatus. 
The thing would not work without them. Some- 
body had made an error. Was there still time to get 
the batteries? Something told Lem that matters 
were coming to a crisis. Would the spies finish their 
work before their errand could be discovered? Was 
it too late after all? 

Greatly worried, Lem replaced the instruments in 
the box and slipped the box under the blankets on 


THE CRISIS 


293 


his cot. The excelsior and wrapping-paper he care- 
fully gathered together and rolled into a little ball 
which he could thrust into the cook-stove. What 
to do Lem did not know. He was certain that the 
wireless outfit had been sent to enable him to try to 
overhear any messages sent to the spies. So much 
was clear enough. But the outfit was incomplete. 
It would not work. A battery was as necessary to 
make it perform as a heart was to enable a man to 
work. Somebody had made a terrible mistake. 
Moreover, Lem was worried by his failure to re- 
ceive any letter with the package. If Mr. Granby 
had meant to return promptly, he would have 
brought the outfit with him instead of sending it 
by mail. And if he did not mean to return at once, 
as he evidently did not mean to do, he should have 
written to Lem, telling him what to do. Lem felt 
that he must get into communication with either 
Captain Hardy or Mr. Granby and do so at once. 
But the objections to the use of either the telephone 
or the telegraph still existed and indeed were 
stronger than ever, since, if Mr. Granby’s absence 
had been noted by the spies, a watch closer than 
usual would be kept on the camp. To communicate 
by mail would require at least forty-eight hours. 
And in forty-eight hours anything might happen. 
Indeed, Lem had a very strong and persistent feel- 
ing that something was going to happen in much less 
than forty-eight hours. 


294 


THE HIDDEN AERIAL 


Again and again he asked himself what he should 
do. The matter was squarely up to him. In the 
very nature of things he must keep the situation 
to himself. He could not seek advice, unless it 
might be from Jimmy, and Jimmy was not at hand. 
For whatever was done Lem would be responsible. 
He had to shoulder the entire burden. He had to 
do something and do it at once. 

Distracted, Lem left his tent and started up the 
notch. He was so worried he could no longer stay 
in his tent. He must find some relief in physical 
action. But he wanted to be alone, where he could 
think uninterruptedly and decide what to do. So 
he struck up the creek. 

But he did not go far. Before he had traveled 
five rods he felt that something was wrong in camp. 
He sensed rather than saw the difficulty. There was 
something in the very air itself, like the condition 
of the atmosphere preceding a thunder-storm, that 
bespoke trouble. Boys were all around him, but 
no one spoke to him. The silence was as ominous 
as the hush that precedes a summer storm. Lem 
stopped short and looked about him. Everywhere 
boys were collecting their belongings, rolling up 
bundles, packing suit cases. A dozen boys were 
looking at him, scowling with the blackness of night. 
Yet no one said a word. The very air was tense 
with feeling. Amazed, dumbfounded, bewildered, 
Lem looked this way and that. And wherever he 
looked his glance was returned by a scowl. 


THE CRISIS 


295 


Then down the little street between the tents 
Frank Anderson came striding. His face wore an 
ugly grin, his eyes were alight with hatred. He was 
looking straight at Lem. 

‘‘ Is — is anything wrong? asked Lem. 

** That’s a nice question for you to ask,” said 
Frank, “ after the way you’ve treated the crowd. 

' Is anything wrong? ’ You know well enough what 
is wrong. But we aren’t going to stand it a minute 
longer. We’re done with you and this blasted camp. 
Thought you could put one over on us, didn’t you? 
But you’ll find out what’s what and who’s who. I 
told you I’d have the last laugh.” 

Almost speechless with astonishment, Lem stood 
for a moment looking straight into Frank’s eyes. 
There he saw the ugly grin, the look of scornful ela- 
tion. Intuitively it came to him that Frank had 
persuaded his fellows to desert. That was the mean- 
ing of the hurried packing Lem had observed. Like 
a flash Lem saw through the entire situation. Frank 
had taken advantage of the past two days to under- 
mine his — Lem’s — authority, break up the camp, 
and so discredit Lem in the eyes of all who knew him. 
Lem saw that the crisis had come. How he wished 
Jimmy were at hand to help him. But there was 
no help. Like a steel he set himself to fight the 
battle. 

In what way have I tried to ‘ put one over ’ on 
the crowd? ” he asked quietly. 


296 


THE HIDDEN AERIAL 


Frank laughed scornfully. ^^A nice question for 
you to ask,” he said. ^^You know very well what 
you’ve done. You know very well that you and 
your friends have been having a picnic for the last 
two days while you’ve had the rest of us working 
like slaves hoeing corn. You know you mean to 
keep us at it for another week. You know you want 
to kill some of us with the heat. We know it, too. 
And we aren’t going to stand for it. To-morrow 
you can hoe corn yourself — you and your friends — 
and see how you like it. We’re going home and you 
can be hanged.” 

Around the two boys all the other lads in camp 
had now collected. Lem took one hasty glance at 
the row of faces. Not one countenance wore a 
friendly look. He must fight the thing out by him- 
self. 

What makes you think we’ve been having a pic- 
nic while you fellows were working so hard? ” he 
asked quietly. 

‘‘‘Think’ it!” exclaimed Frank. “Why, we 
know it.” 

“Have any of you fellows ever hauled in wheat 
and pitched it up into the mows? ” asked Lem, turn- 
ing to Frank’s associates. 

Nobody answered. 

“ Is there a fellow among you who is fair-minded 
enough to try hauling in wheat for a day before pass- 
ing judgment? There must be at least one in six- 


THE CRISIS 


297 


teen who is fair-minded enough to try it. You are 
too just a crowd to condemn a man without hearing 
the evidence.” 

Lem swept his eyes over the group again. And 
now one pair of eyes and then another fell before his 
glance. He had scored a point. His opponents 
were beginning to waver. 

Roger Branscome saw the danger. With in- 
human keenness he retorted, ‘^If you aren’t taking 
things easy, what are you doing in camp at this 
hour? We quit early because we’re done with this 
blooming camp, and we find you here doing nothing. 
You thought you’d sneak off here and enjoy your- 
self while we fellows were blistering out in the corn 
field. But we caught you at it. And how do we 
know that any of your friends are working any 
harder? I’d bet a dollar they’re all fishing and that 
you just canie for your rod. I saw you open it in 
your tent. You thought we couldn’t see you, but 
you forgot that your tent wall wasn’t all the way 
down.” 

Poor Lem! What could he say in answer? Very 
evidently he had been spied upon. He could not 
deny Roger’s assertion without explaining the en- 
tire situation. That he dared not do. He could 
not tell how the lads before him would receive his 
explanation. Most likely Frank Anderson would 
put the story to the test by making a search for the 
spies. Then all would be lost. Unless he could 


298 


THE HIDDEN AERIAL 


explain the situation in detail, Lem saw that it was 
better to say nothing at all. His heart was fairly 
torn with anguish. 

‘‘ If you fellows will suspend judgment,” he said 
firmly, if you will wait until Mr. Granby can return, 
everything will be explained.” 

Frank Anderson gave a derisive laugh. ‘^What 
did I tell you fellows? ” he said exultantly. You 
see how hard he^s been working. We caught him 
good that time. You see what he does the minute 
he is in charge and you know what to expect as long 
as he stays in charge.” Then, turning to Lem, he 
said, with a sneer, Good-by, Mr. Haskins. WeVe 
going to leave you. I hope you enjoy your fish.” 

Only by the most rigid self-repression could Lem 
prevent himself from striking the leering face in 
front of him. Hatred surged up in his heart until 
it almost blinded him. Never in his life had he 
wanted to do violence to anything as much as he 
now wanted to beat Frank Anderson. But he 
clenched his hands behind him, while his face swelled 
with anger and the blood beat in his veins as though 
it would burst them. 

When he could speak calmly, he said once more. 

Fellows, you know how bad circumstances looked 
at State College when I was accused of mistreating 
the horse. I assure you that circumstances are 
equally misleading now. Won't you wait until Mr. 
Granby comes before you do anything you will 
regret? ” 


THE CRISIS 


299 


''Regret!’’ chuckled Roger Branscome. "I sup- 
pose every slave regrets it when he gets free from 
his master. We’re not going to do anything we’ll 
regret. But we’re going to do something well be 
glad of and we’re going to do it quick. We’re going 
home on the first train in the morning. If we hadn’t 
been so near dead from hoeing corn, we’d have 
climbed right over the mountain and gone home to- 
night. And you and your precious Liberty Camp 
can go hang! ” 

He turned away and the crowd followed him. Lem 
was left standing alone. Heart-broken, inconsolable, 
he swung about and entered his tent. As he did so 
he heard the exultant, malicious laugh of Frank An- 
derson. 


CHAPTER XXVII 
A MIDNIGHT VIGIL 

L em sat down on his cot and buried his face in 
his hands. He was almost stunned by the 
force of the blow that had struck him. His agony of 
mind was intense. At first, connected thought was 
difficult. His mind dwelt on one thing only — the 
terrible misfortune that had befallen him. All of 
his efforts had been in vain. His personal sacrifices 
had gone for nought. The trials he had endured had 
been worse than useless. The object of it all, the 
conservation of food for the army and our allies, 
could not now be accomplished. Daily the farm 
hands of the neighborhood were becoming fewer in 
number as industry and the draft took them away 
from the soil. Only the most determined and loyal 
efforts of every boy in the Liberty Camp could save 
the crops of the district — the hundreds of acres of 
rich food so desperately needed abroad. Even if 
every boy in camp did his utmost some loss was cer- 
tain. But if two-thirds of the volunteers deserted, 
the food loss would be terrible. And two-thirds of 
the camp were going to desert. 

300 


A MIDNIGHT VIGIL 


301 


When the power of connected thought returned 
to him, Lem asked himself why his fellows should 
charge him with responsibility for their act. In his 
heart Lem knew that no one in camp had worked 
harder, suffered more, given up more, for the cause 
than he had. Now to be accused of wrecking the 
camp and so causing this terrible loss of food was 
almost more than he could bear. On what ground, 
Lem asked himself, could his fellows make such an 
accusation? To Lem, fatigued almost beyond en- 
durance by his day’s labor, the charge that he had 
been idling while the corn hoers slaved was too pre- 
posterous to be considered. How could any sane 
person make such a foolish statement? 

Then it came to him that perhaps no one among 
the corn hoers had ever hauled grain or pitched to 
the niows. That would explain the situation, for 
assuredly the work did look easy. But the reason, 
if reason it were, did not satisfy Lem. What, he 
asked himself, had he done that would cause his 
fellows to give or accept such a foolish reason for so 
desperate a move as they were about to make? 

Step by step he reviewed the entire course of their 
life at camp. He had done nothing, so far as he 
could see, to change the feelings of his fellows toward 
himself since the camp was opened. When the 
squad left State College he was esteemed, respected, 
looked up to as a leader of integrity, and trusted be- 
cause he had shown constancy in adversity and kept 


802 


THE HIDDEN AERIAL 


faith under misrepresentation. And now he was re- 
garded almost as a traitor to the very cause for which 
he had given so much, as a leader without fairness, 
as a tyrant with whom further association was im- 
possible. What had he done, what had happened, 
to bring about such a change? 

Suddenly Lem saw the reason. In his agony of 
mind he almost sobbed. He was guilty, though not 
in the way charged. He was guilty because he had 
used poor judgment. He had been a fool — and a 
fool can do more harm than a knave, as Lem now 
realized. He had been short-sighted. If he had 
done his full duty, Frank Anderson would have been 
hauling wheat instead of Charley Russell. Then 
Frank could never have made the absurd charges 
he had made, and he would not have had the oppor- 
tunity to poison the minds of his fellows against 
Lem. In short, Lem now believed that if he had 
done what he knew he ought to do, the present sit- 
uation would never have occurred. 

In self-defense Lem pleaded with himself that 
he had been kind to Frank, that he had tried to treat 
him generously, that he had endeavored to return 
good for evil. But excuse himself as he would, Lem 
was now tortured with the thought that his conduct 
had been dictated less by generosity to Frank than 
selfishness for himself. The real reason he had sent 
Frank to hoe corn instead of haul wheat, he told him- 
self, was because he dreaded unfavorable comment 


A MIDNIGHT VIGIL 


303 


by his fellows, because he feared he would be accused 
of rubbing it in/^ It wasn’t Frank at all that he 
had considered, Lem told himself, but his own feel- 
ings. He hadn’t had the moral courage to do his 
full duty — that was all. And this was the result 
of it. 

In so believing Lem was unjust to himself. He 
had been short-sighted. Yet the case was not as 
bad as Lem now made it appear. But anguish 
weighed upon him so heavily that he could hardly 
think correctly about anything. 

For a time Lem gave way to remorse. Then he 
pulled himself together and tried to think what he 
ought to do, to discover how it might be possible to 
retrieve the situation. But he could see no way. 
His fellows had made up their minds and declared 
themselves, and no words of his would change their 
purpose. 

But might there not be some deed, Lem asked him- 
self, that would save the day? Was there anything 
he could do? What could he do? 

Above all things he must get into touch with Mr. 
Granby and Captain Hardy. He must do so by 
mail. At least he could write a letter. So Lem 
tried to compose himself and write the necessary 
communication. 

That done, he pondered on the problem of secur- 
ing an early delivery for it. If the letter were posted 
in Mr. Henderson’s mail-box, it would not be col- 


304 


THE HIDDEN AERIAL 


lected until the rural carrier came next morning. 
It would not finally be aboard a train, speeding to 
its destination, until late afternoon or early evening. 
A few miles up the railroad was a water-tank at a 
signal-tower where the midnight mail train stopped 
to take on water. If he could get the letter to the 
signal-man, the latter would put it aboard the train 
for him, and the letter would be in New York by the 
time the rural carrier reached Mr. Henderson’s farm. 
Twenty-four hours could thus be saved in its deliv- 
ery. The thing to do was obviously to get the letter 
to the signal-man. 

Though tired to the point of exhaustion, Lem 
started off to the signal-tower without hesitation. 
It meant a walk of at least eight miles there and 
back. But Lem locked his jaws, a look of determina- 
tion succeeded the expression of despair on his face, 
and off he set. He could not see how his letter would 
help in any way. But just the same he was deter- 
mined to carry on to the very end. So off he trudged, 
wearily dragging one foot after the other. 

While he was gone his comrades assembled for 
supper. Lem’s friends knew nothing of what had 
occurred and Anderson, fearful of the influence of 
Tom Sheppard and Jimmy Donnelly, cautioned his 
confederates to say nothing concerning what was 
afoot. In consequence the meal was an odd one. 
The very air was tense with feeling. But inasmuch 
as Frank’s party kept their counsel and refrained 


A MIDNIGHT VIGIL 


305 


from making hostile remarks, Lem’s followers could 
only wonder at what had happened. For, with Lem 
gone and the Anderson crowd glum and silent, it 
was evident that something unusual had occurred. 
So the meal was eaten in a silence that was almost 
icy, while every one at the big table cast furtive 
glances at every one else. 

Meantime Lem wearily dragged himself toward 
the watering place. And all the while he kept 
thinking, thinking, thinking over what he should do. 
But think as he would, Lem saw no ray of hope, 
no relieving feature in the situation. He could 
think of nothing that would turn the tide. He could 
see nothing to do but carry on — go on to the very 
end, doing each duty thoroughly. 

At the thought of the wireless receiving instru- 
ment Lem’s heart cried out. If only some one 
hadn’t blundered, if only the battery had not been 
forgotten, Lem could have gone on with the spy 
hunt. That was something tangible that he could 
have accomplished. Even though the camp did 
break up, the spies yet remained to be thwarted. 
He might even have caught some message that 
would have altered the entire situation. Who knew? 
But now it was useless. In utter despair, Lem al- 
most gave up. What was the use of trying to do 
right, he asked himself, when everything he 
attempted went wrong? 

When he got back to camp it was dark. Dread- 


306 


THE HIDDEN AERIAL 


ing to encounter any of the Anderson crowd, Lem 
came quietly up the notch and slipped into his tent 
unobserved. He wanted to talk with Jimmy, but 
Jinuny was not visible and Lem did not go hunting 
for him. Instead he sat down on his cot to think. 

Under him he felt the box with the wireless set. 
Sadly he drew the box from under the blanket. 
Slowly he opened it and with regretful eyes looked 
at the instruments inside. He was about to replace 
the box when a sudden thought arrested his hand. 
How did he know that the instrument wasn’t com- 
plete? He didn't know. He had never seen a wire- 
less instrument like this. It might contain a tiny 
battery in the giant fountain pen. It was a possi- 
bility. Why had he never thought of that before? 

A light sprang into Lem’s eyes. Despair faded 
from his face. He jumped to his feet and began to 
rummage in his suit case. Quickly he drew forth 
and thrust into his pocket his flashlight, a paper 
pad, and a lead pencil. Then he put the big foun- 
tain pen and the two insulated wires into his pocket, 
and partly concealing the cane with his sweater, 
which he flung over his arm, he slipped from his tent 
and vanished in the darkness. 

Rapidly he made his way to the creek bed stones 
on which he and Jimmy had crossed the stream the 
night they discovered the cave of the spies. The 
creek was shrunk again to its normal summer size. 
In the clear starlight the rocks loomed black and 


A MIDNIGHT VIGIL 


307 


huge against the steely waters of the creek. From 
stone to stone Lem leaped lightly, crossing dry-shod. 
Then he picked his way cautiously along the path 
to the spring. Fearful lest one of the spies might be 
abroad, he dared not use his light. In the deep 
gloom of the forest he slipped and stumbled, nar- 
rowly missing more than one fall. But gradually 
his eyes became accustomed to the obscurity and he 
was able to climb with more certainty and less noise. 
Remembering that the spies drew their water at 
night, he paused as he neared the spring, and ap- 
proached the place with the utmost caution. Noth- 
ing stirred. No sound was audible save the noctur- 
nal whisperings of the wind in the tree tops, the 
rustling of tiny forest creatures, and the hum of in- 
sects. Finding no one at the spring, he pressed on 
until he came to the ring of boulders just within the 
strip of forest that bordered the great rock pile, 
where he had hidden on the occasion of his scout 
with Jimmy. 

Once he had worked his way to the centre of this 
ring, Lem gave a sigh of relief. Though by no means 
so secure as the cave in the stone patch, this was a 
very effective hiding-place. So close together were 
the encircling rocks and trees that there was small 
chance of his being discovered, even if he used his 
light. At the same time he was near enough to the 
stone pile to hear the footsteps of any one crossing 
it. And certainly, if his apparatus would operate 


308 


THE HIDDEN AERIAL 


at all, it would operate over the short distance that 
separated him from the spies^ aerial. But would it 
operate? That was the question that was troubling 
Lem. 

At the earliest possible moment he meant to find 
out. His flashlight, pencil, and pad he placed on 
the ground, together with his pocket-knife. Then 
he extended his rod to its maximum length, coupled 
it up with the receiver, connected that with his knife, 
and thrust the blade of the latter deep into the 
ground. Then, all a-tremble with eagerness, he 
raised his aerial aloft, placed the receiver to his ear, 
and stood tense and motionless. 

A minute, ten minutes, half an hour, Lem waited 
anxiously. No crackle of electricity, no whine of a 
wireless message, sounded in his ear. From time to 
time he moved the cap back and forth on the receiver, 
trying to tune to different wave lengths in the hope 
of catching some vibration. Nothing whatever hap- 
pened. The only sound that came to him was the 
gentle sighing of the night wind in the foliage over 
his head. Slowly hope departed. Gradually des- 
pair took its place. At the end of an hour Lem let 
his rod drop to the ground, and bending over one of 
the encircling boulders, buried his face in his hands. 
He had found the answer to his question. The radio 
outfit would not work. His chance to accomplish 
anything was gone. His every effort had been in 
vain. 


A MIDNIGHT VIGIL 


309 


Bitter, black thoughts chased one another through 
Lem’s burdened mind. Had he been of less cou- 
rageous stuff he would have broken down entirely 
and wept. But Lem was not the crying kind. For 
a time all seemed ended. There was nothing more 
he could do. He had done his best and failed. 

As he leaned on the rock, broken-hearted, utterly 
dejected, his hope gone and his spirit all but crushed, 
he thought of the words of Marshal Foch : An 
army is never beaten until it admits it is beaten.” 
Like a flash Lem straightened up. His fists clenched. 
His jaws came together like a steel trap. He did 
not, he would not, admit that he was beaten. There- 
fore he wasn't beaten. Until Anderson and his fol- 
lowers had actually left camp and boarded the train, 
there was still hope. Something might yet happen 
to save the day if only he would carry on. Welling- 
ton won at Waterloo by holding out until Bliicher 
arrived. He, too, would hold out; he, too, would 
carry on to the end. 

His wireless might yet speak. He picked up the 
rod and readjusted the receiver to his ear. Then, 
through the long, silent hours he listened. When his 
arms were so weary he could no longer hold his aerial 
aloft, he propped it up against a rock, while he him- 
self sat on a sweater with his back against a boulder, 
and his knees drawn up before him. Hour followed 
hour. Sleepiness came and Lem fought it. The 
chill of the night fog descended upon him. He 


310 


THE HIDDEN AERIAL 


pulled on his sweater, buttoned up his coat, and 
shivered. Hunger gripped him. In his anguish he 
had remembered neither to eat supper nor bring a 
supply of sandwiches. Cold, hungry, tired, utterly 
dejected, he still refused to give up hope or end the 
struggle. 

Slowly the moments dragged by. To Lem an 
hour seemed like a day. As time passed, it seemed 
to him that he had never done anything in his life 
but sit shivering in the dark, listening for a wireless 
signal. It seemed as though he never would do any- 
thing else. The night seemed as endless as eternity. 
At times he pinched himself to keep awake. At 
times he stood up and stamped his feet on the forest 
loam. When one arm grew weary of holding the 
receiver, he switched to the other. All about him 
he heard the stirrings of woodland creatures, now 
become accustomed to his presence. Little wood- 
mice scampered lightly across the leaves. Owls gave 
their wavering, eerie cry overhead. The tree tops 
sighed under the gentle touch of the night wind. 
Somewhere a skunk passed by, scenting the air be- 
hind him. So the hours dragged, with hope slowly 
fading, despite Lem’s grim determination to hope 
against hope. 

Then suddenly something galvanized him into life 
and action. The fountain pen in his ear began to 
crackle. Like a flash Lem turned on his electric 
torch and laid it so that its rays fell on the pad be- 


A MIDNIGHT VIGIL 


811 


side him. Then with his free hand he slid the cap 
back and forth on the butt end of his fountain pen 
receiver. The crackling continued. Now it was 
confused and indistinct, now louder. Then Lem got 
his adjustment perfect. With joy he caught the 
vibrations clearly. Somebody was sending a signal. 
The call was very faint yet distinct. Then the 
crackling ceased and Lem hardly breathed as he 
waited in tense silence for something more. 

Promptly it came. With a crackle that almost 
split his ear-drum, a second wireless signal vibrated 
in his receiver. Lem almost shouted aloud for joy. 
The ear-splitting noise told him as plainly as words 
could have told him, that the transmitting instru- 
ment was close at hand. Lem never doubted that 
the sound came from the aerial in the skidway, and 
that the spies in the cave were flashing an answer to 
the signal of their confederates. Three brief, sharp 
letters, rapidly repeated, conflrmed Lem’s belief. 
Some one had called, and the spies had answered. 
Now for the message. 

With pencil poised above his paper, Lem waited. 
Promptly came the faint buzzing sound he had 
heard first, barely audible yet distinct. The letters 
fairly tumbled over one another, so rapidly did the 
operator transmit them. With equal rapidity Lem’s 
pencil moved over his paper, under the rays of his 
flashlight. As suddenly as it had begun, the mes- 
sage ended. The vibrations in Lem’s ear ceased. 


312 


THE HIDDEN AERIAL 


Rigid he sat and silent, listening tensely for some 
reply, but none came. 

A minute passed. Five minutes went by. At the 
end of fifteen minutes Lem disconnected his instru- 
ments, telescoped his aerial, thrust paper, pencil, and 
the small wireless parts into his pocket, and with his 
cane in one hand and his fiashlight in the other, 
went swiftly down the mountain. 


CHAPTER XXVIII 


A STRUGGLE WITH TEMPTATION 
ITHOUT mishap Lem crossed the creek and 



▼ ▼ hurried back to camp. He found it wrapped 
in silent darkness. Finally he entered his tent, 
closed the flap, and made certain the walls were en- 
tirely lowered. His tent mate, Jimmy, was sleeping 
like a log, thoroughly exhausted by the day's labor. 
A regiment of calvary could have ridden by and not 
aroused him. Lighting a candle and carefully shad- 
ing it so no ray would fall on Jimmy’s face, Lem sat 
down on his cot, put his suit case on his knees, and 
placed on it the paper on which he had recorded the 
wireless message. 


This is what he had written down: 0-U-R-C-A- 
P-A-C-I-T-Y-H-U-G-E-Q-U-A-L-I-T-Y-A-N-D-Q-U- 
A-N-T-I-T-Y-B-O-T-H-G-U-A-R-A-N-T-E-E-D-P- 
r.O-D-U-C-T-S-C-A-N-B-E-R-E-A-D-Y-F-O-R-Y- 
0-U-R - S-H-I-P-M-E-N-T-D- A-Y-A-F-T-E-R-T-O-M- 

0- R-R-O-W-W-E-W-I-L-L-W-A-T-C-H-Q-U-A-L-I- 
T-Y-P-A-R-T-I-C-U-L-A-R-L-Y-S-O-U-T-H-S-I-D- 

1- N-G-B-E-S-T-E-N-T-R-A-N-C-E-T-O-W-O-R-K- 
S-W-I-L-L-T-R-Y-N-O-T-B-E-V-E-R-Y-L-O-N-G- 


sis 


S14 


THE HIDDEN AERIAL 


A-B-S-E-N-T-N-E-C-E-S-S-A-R-Y - S-E-N-D-F-R- 
0-M-H-E-R-E-B-Y - P-O-S-T-F-O-U-R-O-R-F-I-V- 
E-M-O-R-E - S-A-M-P-L-E-S-T-O-M-O-R-R-O-W- 
A-R-R-I-V-E-N-E-X-T-M-O-R-N-I-N-G-Y-O-U-M- 
U-S-T-A-C-T-O-N-O-F-F-E-R-T-H-E-N- 

Lem looked at the long string of letters and 
frowned. So rapidly had the message sounded in 
his ear that Lem did not know whether he had merely 
a string of letters or a message of the usual sort. He 
had had to record the letters so rapidly that he had 
not endeavored to fashion them into words as they 
came to him. Perhaps they formed words and per- 
haps not. If they did, he doubtless had a code 
message. If he had merely a jumble of letters, then 
he must deal with a cipher. With ciphers he had 
had no experience. His sole acquaintance with code 
messages was what he had had at Camp Brady when 
the Wireless Patrol unraveled the message of the 
dynamiters. But he had read something about both 
systems of cryptic communication. 

So intense was his attention that Lem scarcely 
breathed as he bent over his suit case and tried to 
puzzle out the message. Naturally his first effort 
was to try to form the letters into words. Our 
he spelled out, and smiled as he wrote down the word 
'' our.” Again he spelled out a word and wrote down 
“ cap.” But what followed puzzled him. It ran 
‘‘a city hug equality.” The frown came back to 
Lem^s face. What could be the meaning of such a 


A STRUGGLE WITH TEMPTATION 315 


senseless message as our cap a city hug equality/^ 
he asked himself, and how was he to make sense of 
it? He read the message over several times. Then 
a smile broke over his face. He scratched out what 
he had written and substituted, “ Our capacity 
huge.’’ That one sentence determined the nature 
of the communication. It was doubtless a straight- 
forward message that carried some hidden meaning. 
Rapidly now Lem puzzled out its component sen- 
tences, writing them down one after another. In a 
very short time he had reduced the string of letters 
to an orderly message, which read thus : Our ca- 
pacity huge. Quality and quantity both guaran- 
teed. Products can be ready for your shipment day 
after to-morrow. We will watch quality particu- 
larly. South siding best entrance to works. Will 
try not be very long absent. Necessary send from 
here by post four or five more samples to-morrow. 
Arrive next morning. You must act on offer 
then.” 

The frown on Lem’s face deepened to a scowl. 
Beyond doubt the message before him was anything 
but the harmless business message it appeared to be. 
What did it really mean and how was Lem to find 
out? If arbitrary meanings had been given to the 
different words, he never could find out. If the 
words retained their proper meanings, then the 
message could be deciphered by altering the posi- 
tions of the words or by eliminating certain words 


316 


THE HIDDEN AERIAL 


from the message and retaining certain others. But 
how to set about solving the problem Lem hardly 
knew. His sole experience with cryptic communi- 
cations was with the spy messages intercepted at 
Camp Brady. Their meaning had been found by 
reading every third word in the messages. 

I’ll try that plan now,” Lem muttered to him- 
self. If I get no sense by taking every third word, 
I’ll try every second word, then every fourth word, 
and so on.” 

Quickly he wrote down every third word in the 
message, thus: “ Huge quantity products ready ship- 
ment to-morrow watch south entrance will be absent 
from post five to-morrow morning act then.” 

As Lem ran his eye over the words, he almost 
shouted aloud. An exultant light shone in his eyes. 
His heart beat fast. 

“ I’ve got it ! ” he muttered to himself. I’ve got 
it! This must be part of the same gang that tried 
to blow up the Elk City reservoir, for they use the 
same code system.” 

Then quickly he punctuated the message, which 
read as follows: ‘‘Huge quantity products ready 
shipment to-morrow. Watch south entrance. Will 
be absent from post five to-morrow morning. Act 
then. ” 

A little cry of triumph broke from Lem’s lips. 
“ That means they are going to blow up a shipment 
of ammunition at the south entrance of the Ander- 


A STRUGGLE WITH TEMPTATION 317 


son shell plant at five o’clock to-morrow morning,” 
he muttered. 

Into his mind came a mental vision of the south 
entrance of the Anderson factory. He could see 
the wide gate and the swarms of workers hurrying 
in and out. 

“ What an awful place for an explosion,” muttered 
Lem with a shudder. It will kill scores of people.” 

In his mind’s eye he could see the dead and 
mangled lying on the ground, the uninjured flee- 
ing in panic from the spot, the buildings begin- 
ning to burn, and explosion following explosion. 
Suddenly his train of thought was interrupted with 
a jolt. Ammunition shipments, he knew, always 
went by rail, and there was no track running out of 
the south entrance. He must have misread the 
message. 

Lem picked up the paper before him and once 
more began to study what he had written. 

‘‘It makes sense,” he muttered, “but the sense 
doesn’t correspond with facts.” 

Over and over he read the message, but for a long 
time he saw no light. Then it came to him like a 
flash. The word “ watch ” was a noun. He had 
made it a verb. In the light of this discovery he 
rewrote the message, this time filling in the implied 
words so as to make complete sense. And now he 
did cry out in triumph. Beyond question he had 
solved the riddle. For this is what he wrote: “A 


818 


THE HIDDEN AERIAL 


huge quantity of products is ready for shipment 
to-morrow. The watch at the south entrance will 
be absent from his post at five to-morrow morning. 
Act then.’’ 

Now it was all as plain as daylight. Confederates 
of the spies on the mountain knew that a large ship- 
ment of ammunition was ready to go forward. They 
had corrupted the guard at the south gate, so that 
their accomplices could slip in and wreck the plant. 
Under the daylight saving law five o’clock was 
really four o’clock. It would not be light. The 
spies could enter unobserved, place explosives, lay 
a fuse, and get away in safety. 

And now Lem understood why these men were 
hidden on the mountain. They meant not only to 
blow up the shell plant, but also to destroy the 
greatest quantity of ammunition possible. Hence 
they had to strike their blow at a time when large 
quantities of products were ready for shipment. 
They did not dare wait and watch in Central City 
because all strangers were closely observed, and if 
they awakened suspicion their boarding places were 
quietly searched. By living on the mountain the 
spies were within little more than an hour’s walk 
of the shell plant, and they could keep with them 
any quantity of explosives they might desire. Thus, 
at an hour’s warning, they were always ready to 
strike. Confederates in the town, perhaps employ- 
ees of the shell plant itself, had gained the informa- 


A STRUGGLE WITH TEMPTATION 319 


tion about the munitions to go forward on the 
morrow and had corrupted the watchman at the 
gate. It was all as plain as could be. 

The word corrupted stuck in Lem’s mind. Had 
not Frank Anderson, through Corporal Worthington, 
corrupted the little lads at State College with the 
view to ruining him, Lem? Now the same method 
, was being employed to ruin Frank, or rather Frank’s 
father. To Lem it was pretty much the same thing. 

“ Assuredly,” thought Lem, “ chickens do come 
jhome to roost. I wonder if the fellow who does 
' right is rewarded in similar fashion.” 

Suddenly all the pent up anger he had ever felt 
toward Frank Anderson burst forth in Lem’s heart. 
The greatest temptation of his life came to him. 

; He alone possessed knowledge of the plot against 
the Anderson shell plant. Why should he exert 
himself to save the property of his worst enemy? 
Why should he be sacrificing sleep and risking 
danger for the very lad who had so persistently and 
treacherously tried to harm him? Why should he 
be doing his utmost to protect the father of the 
boy who had tried to disgrace and ruin him? On 
the morrow Anderson and his crowd were going to 
desert. The camp would break up. Mr. Granby 
would come back to find his plans wrecked. All 
through the state would go the word that the 
Liberty Camp near Central City had broken up 
because of the mismanagement of Lieutenant Has- 


320 


THE HIDDEN AERIAL 


kins. All the blame would be placed at Lem^s door. 
The sixteen lads who were going to desert would 
spread the story broadcast. To justify themselves 
they had to paint a very black picture of Lem. It 
looked like sure disgrace for Lem. 

Now it was within his power to ruin the lad who 
was responsible for all his injuries. Revenge was 
within his grasp. Lem alone possessed knowledge of 
the plot against the Anderson shell plant. Nobody 
knew that Lem possessed these facts. All he need 
do was to hold his peace and let things take their 
course. Then the boy who had tried to ruin others 
by corruption would find himself ruined in the same 
way. Was that not justice? 

Sitting on his cot in the dim candle-light, Lem 
fought a second silent battle with himself in the 
stillness of the night. Irresolute, he wavered 
between duty and desire. Over and over he re- 
viewed the situation. Conscience told him to make 
haste and save the shell plant. Hatred told him to 
remain quiet and let it be destroyed. So the 
struggle continued in the silent darkness until Lem 
chanced to look at his watch. It was two o’clock in 
the morning! Perhaps it was now too late. Per- 
haps he could not now save the plant if he tried. 

With a cry Lem crushed down the temptation in 
his heart and burst from his tent. Down the notch 
he ran like a deer. Fatigue was forgotten. On he 
raced until he reached Mr. Henderson’s door, He 


A STRUGGLE WITH TEMPTATION 321 


pounded on it until he roused the sleepy farmer. 

Come down quick,” he called. “ Something 
terrible has happened.” 

Five minutes later the two were racing for Central 
City in Mr. Henderson's motor-car, while Lem 
explained the entire situation. Incredulous, Mr. 
Henderson listened to the story. At four o'clock the 
car drew up before Mr. Anderson's home. Ten 
minutes later Mr. Anderson joined Lem and Mr. 
Henderson and the three sped to the office of the 
shell plant police. Detectives were summoned and 
ordered to conceal themselves near the south gate, 
where they could watch the guard and apprehend 
any one who approached. They were ordered, if 
necessary, to shoot first and ask questions afterward. 
Lem's information had come not a moment too soon, 
but it had come in time. The shell plant was safe. 


CHAPTER XXIX 


VICTORY 

B ack to camp sped the Henderson motor-car the 
minute the great shell plant was safe. But the 
Lem who rode in it now was a different lad from the 
Lem who had kept the lone vigil on the mountain. 
Action had roused all his powers. Success had 
stimulated him to still greater efforts. He had saved 
the shell plant. He had prevented the loss of huge 
quantities of munitions. Thereby he had saved 
innocent women and children from the beast of 
Europe and helped to protect the boys in the 
trenches. He had done a great thing. But there 
were other things still to be accomplished, other 
work was yet to be performed. He had saved the 
shell supply. Now he meant to save the food 
supply. And he saw exactly how he was going to 
do it. 

Under his urgent plea, Mr. Henderson drove his 
car at the limit of safety. As they shot through the 
chill morning mist, Lem sat deep in thought, seeing 
nothing, hearing nothing, hardly moving. He was 
mapping out his campaign. He did not intend to 


VICTORY 


323 


be caught unprepared at a single point. The great 
essential was to get there in time and the car was 
doing it. 

The camp was no more than astir when Lem 
dashed up the notch. Not half a dozen lads had 
yet emerged from their tents. Lem gave a sigh of 
relief. He was in time. 

Directly he strode to Frank^s tent and called, 

Anderson ! Anderson ! ” 

Frank thrust his head, his eyes still heavy with 
sleep, out of his tent door. The sleepy expression 
vanished when he saw who his visitor was, and a 
look of cold scorn took its place. Well? he said. 

Come to my tent with me,” replied Lem. 

Something in his tone and manner made Anderson 
choke back the insolent reply that trembled on his 
lips. Without a word he stepped forth and accom- 
panied Lem. Neither spoke a word as they strode 
over to Lem’s tent. Jimmy was not there. They 
entered and Lem dropped the fly. 

‘^Sit down,” he said courteously, motioning to- 
ward his cot which had not been slept in. 

Frank took the proffered seat and Lem dropped 
down on Jimmy’s disheveled bed, facing him. For 
a moment there was silence. The old sneering look 
began to creep back into Frank’s face. Lem saw it. 

“ Anderson,” he said quietly, I want you to look 
at this ' fishing rod ’ that your friend Roger yester- 
day accused me of coming back to camp to get when 
I should have been hauling wheat.” 


su 


THE HIDDEN AERIAL 


He picked up the cane and handed it to Frank. 
From his pocket he drew forth the fountain pen 
receiver and the insulated wires. These he also 
handed to Frank. 

“ There it is complete/’ he said. 

Anderson examined the outfit in silent interest. 

It telescopes this way,” said Lem, drawing out 
the topmost section of the aerial. 

Anderson completed the extension of the rod, then 
examined it critically. Quite evidently he was 
puzzled. 

“ This wire slips in there,” said Lem, thrusting a 
bayonet connection into the butt of the cane, and 
the other end connects with the fountain pen — thus. 
This second wire goes into the opposite side of the 
fountain pen and runs to the ground. Ever see a 
fishing outfit like it? ” 

Anderson looked at Lem with bewilderment writ- 
ten on his face. “No,” he said. “What is it? 
This is no fishing-rod.” 

“ Correct. It is a radio receiving outfit. I got 
it to try to save your father’s mills from destruction.” 

The expression on Frank Anderson’s face was in- 
describable. His cheeks went white. He sprang to 
his feet. “ ‘ My father’s mills,’ ” he cried. “ What 
do you mean? ” 

“ Exactly what I said — destruction at the hands 
of alien enemy dynamiters. There is a plot afoot 
to blow them up.” 


VICTORY 


325 


“ ‘ Blow them up/ ” repeated Frank aghast. Why, 
that would ruin him. Every cent he has in the 
world is invested in those mills and he borrowed 
hundreds of thousands additional to expand them for 
war work. The insurance covers only a fraction of 
their cost. If they were blown up, we’d be ruined, 
we’d be worse, than penniless.” He took a quick 
step toward Lem and laid a trembling hand appeal- 
ingly on his shoulder. “ For heaven’s sake,” he said, 
“ tell me what you know quick.” 

Sit down,” said Lem. It’s a long story.” He 
paused and stared into vacancy as though collecting 
his thoughts. Anderson,” he said at length, the 
day after you and Clarence and Roger hatched a 
certain little scheme under the willow-trees by Mr. 
Henderson’s wheat field, I went for a walk in the 
rain to think the situation over.” 

Anderson’s look fell to the floor and his cheek 
turned scarlet. 

I crossed the creek and went up the old skidway 
where the fellows saw some surveyors running a 
telephone-line for Uncle Sam. I made a discovery. 
That line wasn’t a telephone-line at all, but a 
camouflaged wireless aerial, with an underground 
transmission line running toward that great stone 
heap on the mountain-side.” 

Anderson raised his eyes. Now they expressed 
the incredulity he felt. 

^^It’s a fact,” continued Lem, ‘^and the trans- 


S26 


THE HIDDEN AERIAL 


mission line led to a cave in a ledge of rocks in the 
very heart of that stone pile. I know because 
Jimmy and I went scouting one dark night and 
traced it.’’ 

“At night? Over those stones and among the 
rattlers? ” 

“ Exactly. And just missed being bitten by one.” 

Anderson leaned far forward. “What did you 
find in the cave? ” he demanded eagerly. 

“Four spies, presumably Germans. Also they 
were there presumably to work harm to your 
father’s shell plant.” 

Frank jumped to his feet. “ I must telephone 
my father at once,” he said excitedly. 

“ Sit down,” said Lem. “ I haven’t told you half 
yet.” 

“ But my father should be warned at once,” cried 
Frank in alarm. “ They might blow up the place 
while we talk.” 

“How are you going to warn him,” asked Lem 
coldly, “ unless you know what to warn him about? 
Sit down.” 

Frank sank back on the cot. “ Go on,” he said, 
“ but be quick.” 

“We told Mr. Granby about it. He ordered us 
not to mention it to any one else lest the whole camp 
go spy hunting and alarm the men on the mountain. 
Then he wrote to Captain Hardy to see what we 
ought to do about the matter. He sent for Mr. 


VICTORY 


327 


Granby to come to New York, where he is now” 
Lem paused a moment. Yesterday,” he continued, 
a package came for me from Captain Hardy. I 
believed the package had some connection with this 
spy matter, and slipped back to camp early to open it 
before any one else got here. You fellows quit work 
early and caught me. You thought I was after a 
fishing rod. The apparatus in your hand is what I 
had. ICs a wireless receiving outfit. I couldn’t 
explain without giving the whole situation away. 
If I had explained, you fellows would have swarmed 
up the mountain and spoiled everything. So I had 
to let you think what you chose to think. But it 
was not a fishing rod that I had. It was the thing 
in your hand.” 

“ What are you going to do with it? ” asked Frank 
eagerly. 

“Nothing,” said Lem. 

“Nothing,” echoed Frank indignantly. “Why, 
you might find out something about the plans of 
these spies.” 

“ I already have,” said Lem. “ I spent the night 
on the mountain, listening for any message they 
might send or receive.” 

“ All alone,” said Frank, “ and up among the rocks 
and snakes? ” 

“Yes, alone and quite close to the rocks and 
rattlers.” 

“ Did you hear anything? ” 


328 


THE HIDDEN AERIAL 


“ I did. The Anderson shell plant is to be blown 
up this morning.^’ 

Frank sprang to his feet. I must warn my 
father this minute/^ he cried. His voice was all 
a-tremble. 

It is too late,” said Lem quietly. 

The expression on Frank’s face was pitiful. “ Do 
you mean — ” he began, but the words ended in a 
sob. 

Here is their message,” said Lem, handing Frank 
the sheet of paper on which he had written down the 
long string of letters, and here’s what it says when 
deciphered.” He passed over the message as he had 
finally written it down. It took me a long time to 
work it out,” he continued. 

With panic-stricken eyes Frank glanced at the 
message. At five o’clock! ” he read. Act then.” 
Aloud, he said in a choking voice, Did you — did 
you — hear it? ” 

No,” said Lem, for it didn’t happen. I went 
to Central City myself and warned your father. 
By this time the spies are in jail. The shell plant 
is all right and your father’s fortune is safe.” 

Anderson sank back on Lem’s cot like one stricken. 
He was almost as much shocked as he would have 
been had Lem told him he had heard the explosion. 
The tension had been great. The reaction was 
equally severe. He rested his elbow on his knees. 
His shoulders sank forward. His head drooped. 


VICTORY 


329 


For a long time he sat motionless, saying nothing. 
Finally he looked up. 

Was anybody with you,’^ he asked, when you 
discovered that the telephone-line was really a blind 
for a wireless aerial? 

I was alone.^^ 

Did you know then that the men who put up the 
wireless were concerned in a plot against my father’s 
shell plant? ” 

“ I suspected as much.” 

‘‘Then you made your night scout among the 
rocks and the rattlers expressly to save the shell 
plant? ” 

“ Of course.” 

“ Did you know then what ■ — what we had 
planned under the willows? ” 

“ Yes.” 

“ And you spent last night on the mountain, 
going without sleep after a hard day’s work and 
again risking a snake-bite, to save my father’s 
factory — after what happened yesterday?” 

“ Yes,” said Lem very gently. 

Again Anderson was silent, thinking intently, 
his head bowed. “Haskins,” he said at last, “I 
can’t understand it. If I’d been in your place, and 
you had treated me as I have treated you, the shell 
plant could have gone to thunder. I’d never have 
turned a finger to save it, let alone have done what 
you have. How could you forget all the rotten 


330 


THE HIDDEN AERIAL 


things I’ve done to you and not want to get even? ” 
Who said I did? ” 

You mean you wanted the shell plant to be 
blown up so I would be hurt, and yet you saved it? ” 
I guess that’s about the size of it. I’m not a bit 
better than anybody else. I was tempted to let it 
be destroyed.” 

'' Then why didn’t you? ” 

‘^Because our army needs those shells. I’d be a 
pretty patriot, wouldn’t I, if I put a private quarrel 
before the welfare of the U. S. A.? And I was just 
little enough to want to do it, too.” 

Haskins,” said Anderson, after a silence, you 
needn’t call yourself little. You’re the biggest, 
whitest fellow I ever knew. I never looked at things 
as I do now. I never before saw myself as I do 
now. Haskins, I’ve been nastier than any skunk 
that ever walked. But I’ll tell you one thing. If 
you’ll let me shake your hand ; if you’re still willing 
to let bygones be bygones as you once wanted to do ; 
if you’ll just give me a chance to show how sorry I 
am for all the rotten things I’ve done to you, I’ll 
be the most grateful fellow alive.” 

What will you do? ” asked Lem. 

What do you want done? ” 

I want to get these crops in. I want to save all 
this food for the boys in France. That’s what we 
joined the Working Reserve for. That’s what I’d 
rather accomplish than anything else on earth.” 


VICTORY 


831 


“ Then shake. If any lobster in the bunch says 
another word about breaking up this camp or loafs 
on the job, he’s got me to reckon with. We’ll get in 
the crops and we’ll save every last ounce of food or 
know the reason why.” 

He thrust out his hand and looked Lem fairly in 
the eyes. The old expression of hatred was gone 
forever. In its place was a look of admiration and 
loyalty. 

Lem seized the proffered hand. Frank,” he said, 
“ I’m the happiest fellow alive. If you’ll help me, 
we’ll clean up the crops so slick a crow couldn’t live 
on what’s left.” 

So it came about that when Mr. Granby came 
back, he found a united and eager company of 
soldiers of the soil. Their courage had been restored. 
Their spirit had been revived. Their unity was 
complete. Their morale was high. They joked 
as they made hay under the hot sun. They dug 
potatoes as though there was no such thing in the 
world as backache. They cleaned stables with real 
pleasure. They picked fruit and pulled weeds will- 
ingly. They helped thresh grain as determinedly 
as the boys in the first line went over the top. The 
passing weeks added to their unity and increased 
their capacity for labor. 

When fall came, when school duties called this 
loyal company from the Liberty Camp to the class 
room, they had more than made good. They had 


S32 


THE HIDDEN AERIAL 


worked as few boys ever worked. They had aston- 
ished the farmers by their faithfulness and persist- 
ence. They had brought credit to the Boys’ Work- 
ing Reserve. They had garnered the crops clean. 

So it happened that hundreds of little mouths 
were fed, that hundreds of soldiers in the trenches 
were strengthened for their tasks, that the punish- 
ment of the red beast of Europe was hastened, and 
the rescue of his victims made more certain — all 
because a lad with a tattered shirt and a loyal heart 
would not admit that he was beaten ; because he 
had had the courage, despite obstacles, to carry on ” 
to the end. 


William Drysdale 

The Famous 

“ Brain and Brawn” Series 

C\Co bo\f should groTo up without reading these books 


TEe Young Reporter 

A STORY OF PRINTING HOUSE SQUARE. 300 pp. 

A genuine boys’ book for genuine boj^s. Full of 
life, clean, clear cut and inspiring. It will enlist the 
interest of every stirring and wide-awake boy. 

Ihe FasL Mail 

THE STORY OF A TRAIN BOY. 328 pp. 

The story of the adventures of a boy who fought 
his way to success with clean grit and good sense, 
accomplishing what is within the power of every 
American boy if he sets about it. It is full of move- 
ment, sound in sentiment, and wholesome in 
character. 

liie Beach Patrol 

A STORY OF THE LIFE-SAVING SERVICE. 318pp. 

A spirited picture of the labors and dangers to 
which members of the life-saving service are ex- 
posed and which few realize. 

TSe Young Supercargo 

A STORY OF THE MERCHANT MARINE. 352 pp. 

This book has all of the interest of ‘ ‘ Oliver 
Optic’s ” books, with none of their improbabilities. 

The Volumes are Fully Illustrated. Price, $1.50 each. 


W. A. WILDE COMPANY 

Boston and Chicago 


Captain Edw. L, Beach, U,S,N. 


Ralph Osborn — Midshipman at Am 
napolis 

A STORY OF ANNAPOLIS LIFE.’ 336pag«» 

Midshipman Ralph Osborn at Sea 

A STORY OF MIDSHIPMAN LIFE AT SEA, AND 
CONTINUING “ RALPH OSBORN— MIDSHIPMAN 
AT ANNAPOLIS.” ‘ 360 pages 

Ensign Ralph Osborn 

THE STORY OF HIS TRIALS AND TRIUMPHS 
IN A BATTLESHIP’S ENGINE ROOM. 338 pages 

Lieutenant Ralph Osborn Aboard a 
Torpedo Boat Destroyer 

BEING THE STORY OF HOW RALPH OSBORN 
BECAME A LIEUTENANT AND OF HIS CRUISE 
IN AN AMERICAN TORPEDO BOAT DESTROYER 
IN WEST INDIAN WATERS. 342 pages 

The “OSBORN” books show the steps of advancement in the 
American Navy, from Cadet to Lieutenant, with a true picture of naval 
life as it is. The information given is authentic- and many of the 
related incidents were actual occurrences. They are books of infor- 
mation and adventure combined. 

Such stories as these are not only interesting to the yovmg people but 
carry with them an insight into naval life which will make the reader 
have more respect and appreciation of the work of Uncle Sam’s navy. 
They are first-class stories for boys — clean, good, and worthy of a 
place in the home, private or school library. 

“ These are the best stories on the United States Navy which have 
ever been written. They give a clear insight into the workings of this 
i Important branch of American government and the characters are true 
^ *il® as befits a book written by such a man as Commander Bench, 
who has enjoyed an enviable career ever since he entered the United 
States Navy.’ — New York Times. 

These Volumes are all fully illustrated 
Price, Cloth, $1.50 net each 


W. A. WILDE CO. Boston and Chicago 



















